PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, sociological*
Though I expressed a low opinion of the Mark Millar source material, KINGSMAN THE SECRET SERVICE is certainly an improvement on the original in terms of pacing and eye-candy.
In the original graphic novel, young punk Eggsy is spirited out of his lower-class environs by his uncle Jack, who gives Eggsy a chance to train with the made-up British superspy agency, Kingsman. In a chance that's neither good nor bad, this time it's Eggsy's father, name of Lee, who's a member of Kingsman, and when Lee meets his death fighting the minions of a supervillain, his friend Harry Hart (Colin Firth) steps in to succor Eggsy (Taron Egerton). Once Eggsy receives all the proper training in using all the requisite super-spy weapons-- which are meant to be even more over-the-top than the most fabulous Bond accoutrements-- Eggsy and Harry join forces to destroy the schemes of Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), who is kidnapping the movie-celebrities he loves to protect them from the world-destroying weapon he plans to unleash, all to the end of reducing Earth's rampant population.
SECRET SERVICE is just as silly and witless as the graphic novel, and the overacting of Jackson does nothing to improve things, though Firth's ability to channel Michael Caine's "Harry Palmer" character is diverting. I enjoyed seeing Sofia Boutella take on the formerly male role of the villain's bionic henchman Gazelle, and that's about it. Both the real Michael Caine and Mark Hamill have supporting roles.
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