From the director that brought Kick-Ass to the screen comes the gloriously uber-violent action-comedy caper Kingsman: The Secret Service. Jess Layt offers her take on the film.
IF you've ever wondered what Colin Firth (pictured) would be like as James Bond, Kingsman: The Secret Service is the closest thing you are likely to see.
With its tongue firmly in its cheek, the film looks at the spy genre the same way director Matthew Vaughn's earlier film Kick-Ass looked at superheroes.
It points out all the ridiculous and over-played points, like villains conveniently spilling all their secrets and heroes spouting terrible one-liners left, right and centre, and yet maintains the genre's coolness and appreciation of gadgetry.
Equal parts spoof and homage to the Roger Moore-era Bond films, Kingsman is a hilariously self-aware and modern take on espionage films.
The film follows young wrong-side-of-the-tracks Brit Eggsy (newcomer Taron Egerton) through his recruitment by Firth's Harry Hart (aka Galahad) into the secret Kingsman spy agency, fronted by a Savile Row suit shop.
Samuel L Jackson plays the lisped villain, Valentine, of this particular spy caper, and is brilliantly over-the-top.
In a film like Kingsman, plot isn't necessarily the most important thing - the fantastic, marvellous violence is.
Some of the violence in Kingsman truly has to be seen to be believed; especially a climactic scene (you'll know it when you see it) which displays a method of killing that is so outrageously inventive one cannot help but laugh.
Those that loved the 2010 'superhero' flick are certain to rejoice at Kingsman, which too has thrown its caution decidedly to the wind and came out guns positively blazing to deliver a completely politically incorrect, non-family friendly movie that is everything you never knew you wanted and more.
Kingsman: The Secret Service is rated MA15+ and is in cinemas now.
