Rated Kingsman: The Secret Service 6/10
At first the hyper-kinetic action sequences seem forced and gimmicky, but once you're used to them their excessive nature becomes more apparent and their effectiveness wanes. It's a bizarre mashup of STORMBREAKER, SHOOT 'EM UP, and THE WOLVERINE that Vaughn creates, and fans of any of the aforementioned will find themselves at home. There is gratuitous violence, sure, but nothing that's truly discomfiting or gory. (And if you're anything like me this will probably annoy you; if he is going to be mindlessly frivolous he should at least COMMIT.)Vaughn is quite right to keep the pacing brisk--it keeps audiences invested and prevents them from thinking too critically about some foibles--but it's still pretty obvious that he isn't interested in flushing the majority of these characters out. Particularly vexing is the treatment women get in this movie. Roxy and Gazelle are initially characterized as dedicated, sober women, but by the second half both are drawn in ways that allow them to be easily dismissed (or dispatched). Also infuriating is the fact that there's no set-up that peeks into their pasts despite incidental characters like Eggsy's mom receiving screen time that is well out of proportion with their relevance in the action and overall narrative.As with any movie overly reliant on its action there are significant issues with its script and the ways characters are rendered. Having not read its source material I can't make assertions about its faithfulness, but it definitely sacrifices emotional gravitas (and thought-provoking eschatologies) for something that thinks itself a parody/satire of the spy movie genre. On this score it never quite sticks its landing. It provides a spectacle that will keep audiences at rapt attention, but for all its talk--through lisps--of bespoke suits, it's riddled with holes, the final product more tatterdemalion than dinner wear.
