The only thing standing in Valentine’s way is the British spy group of the title. Colin Firth is the veteran agent (Harry Hart, codenamed Galahad), a smooth but deadly operator who must simultaneously contend with Valentine’s plot while also helping to train “Eggsy” Unwin (played by newcomer Taron Egerton), the son of a long-ago fallen comrade who he’s handpicked to join the Secret Service.
The working-class Eggsy finds himself in competition with his fellow young applicants for the sole open seat in the super-spy group, but he also faces class warfare of a kind; his competitors are mostly a bunch of stuck-up, boarding-school stereotypes. Eggsy needs to master the physical and mental challenges of the Kingsman program, but he also has to undergo a sort of My Fair Lady transformation along the way. The rain in Spain stays mainly in the… Aston Martin.
(This juxtaposition of the classes is a thread throughout the film. When Galahad and Valentine finally meet for dinner in a most polite opening salvo in their conflict, the meal served on silver platters is… McDonalds.)Firth is of course as flawless as his finely tailored suit here as a proper British gentlemen, but his ability as an action hero is what surprises; Liam Neeson, consider yourself on notice. Egerton has charisma to spare and holds his own among a cast of heavy hitters that also includes Mark Strong and Michael Caine as fellow members of Kingsman (playing Q and M-types, respectively, for those Bond fans who are keeping track).
So what you have here are some tried and true scenarios -- the test that only the outside-the-box Eggsy can solve, the female agent who’s both adversary and companion, the do-or-die final mission against Valentine, and so on -- but Vaughn and his great across the board cast keep it all fresh and entertaining and exciting. And the film also fakes and feints, managing to surprise sometimes in big ways; a second act fight scene is a highlight as it sets Firth’s Galahad against a hate-spewing bunch of churchgoers. It’s a ballet of bullet-time carnage, and while discussing the bigger implications of the scene would be spoilery, suffice to say that it will have folks talking after they leave the theater -- for more than one reason.Audiences may also be talking about Vaughn’s taste, or lack thereof, overall. An eleventh-hour old-school zinger that he gives a uniquely perverse spin to comes immediately to mind. But the story of Galahad and Eggsy and their battle against Valentine, while very familiar, is also so very fun and alive in its telling that it’s impossible to resist its charms.
