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The King’s Man
(20th Century Studios)
By Lucas Allen
With “Kingsman: The Secret Service” and “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” writer/director Matthew Vaughn establishes his series as a hyper-violent and stylish take on the James Bond movies. But rather than complete the trilogy, he opted for a prequel film that gives fans an origin story on the creation of the world’s most secret agency. The result is “The King’s Man,” which transports viewers from modern-day London to the early 20th century.
Orlando (Ralph Fiennes), the Duke of Oxford, looks after his estate mansion outside of London with his young son Conrad (Harris Dickinson). Years earlier, he promised his late wife he’d protect their son by keeping him away from danger. However, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand thrusts the world into war, with England’s King George, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm, and Russia Tsar Nicholas (all played by Tom Hollander) plotting against each other as rival nations. But unbeknownst, it was all a plot by an evil organization and their mysterious leader hoping to reshape the world with their dominance.
Conrad wants to enlist in the army, but his father forbids it. Instead, Orlando introduces his son to his secret intelligence group, which includes handmaiden Polly (Gemma Arterton) and loyal servant Shola (Djimon Hounsou). Together, they use many spy tricks to uncover the dastardly plan to control the world and stop it. To do so, they must first take on some of the other evildoers including mad Russian monk Rasputin (Rhys Ifans), seductive agent Mata Hari (Valerie Pachner), and Professor Erik Jan Hanussen (Daniel Bruhl).
The movie carries the same stylish action as the previous two films. In fact, director Vaughn ups the ante by including some POV sword fighting and fight choreography that moves like extreme ballet. These scenes alone make the movie worthwhile to watch as it oozes such intensity on the screen. You could make a supercut of these action scenes from these three Kingsman films and it would be the greatest movie ever made.
However, the story itself suffers from an inconsistent tone between being serious, being funny, and being shocking. Each scene feels like it doesn’t know if it wants to make heads-&-tails between a war drama and a spy comedy. The tonal shift takes a downturn when a major character death happened very unexpectedly, but also very unnecessary to drive the film forward. It seems to be a common thread in this franchise that it becomes a slap-in-the-face to the fans, and it needs to end. If Vaughn wanted to shock us, he should stick with killing off evil characters in more imaginative ways.
Also unnecessary is the World War I battlefield scenes, which feel patched on and could’ve been left out of the movie. We’ve seen them done better in more recent movies like “Wonder Woman” and “1917,” when they feel more character-based than simply action fluff. Also, its James Bond-esque plot seems to fail more in the villain’s department when it downright imitates both Blofeld and SPECTRE headquarters poorly making Dr. Evil from Austin Powers look more menacing.
On the upside, the cast was nicely game for the insanity the script provides. Fiennes is great in his leading role lending class and charm as well as his fighting skills to this production. Ifans steals a bit of the film playing a more over-the-top version of Rasputin than the likes of Lionel Barrymore and Christopher Lee previously. Both Arterton, Hounsou, and Dickinson also do their jobs in otherwise decent supporting roles.
“The King’s Man” is a mixed bag to say the least. While it has some of the stylish elements from the previous films, it’s ruined by unnecessary drama. Essentially, it’s up to the viewer whether or not to see it on the big screen, or just wait for the actual “Kingsman 3” to come along.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: R (for sequences of strong/bloody violence, language, and some sexual material)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 2.5 Stars (Out of Four)
