'Kingsman: The Secret Service' review: A fun spy flick to watch for effortlessly cool Colin Firth

Film: Kingsman: The Secret Service

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: Colin Firth, Tamor Egerton, Michael Caine, Mark Strong, Samuel L Jackson, Sofia Boutella

Rating: ***1/2

What's it about:

A boy loses his father in a secret service operation gone sideways and becomes street-smart. A colleague, whose life the father saved, seeks out the boy year later, offering to mentor him, a la My Fair Lady (inside joke, just watch the film) and make him a gentleman spy. But first... there will be death-defying tests and then, membership to a very secret society. But, an evil tech genius has to be dealt with first.

What's hot:

Colin Firth dominates, quite literally. This film might have the likes of Caine and Strong, but Firth emerges first among equals here. Top marks to fight coordinator Guillermo Grispo for choreographing the spectacular church fight sequence and the one set in a bar and to director Michael Vaughn for making the otherwise stiff (love the actor, but he always plays stuck-up characters) Firth seem effortlessly cool. Incredibly violent, yet quite engrossing, it is one of the best moments in the film. And as one of the best villains you'll see this year, Samuel L Jackson is another reason to watch the film. Vaughan is in his comfort zone here and it shows. 

What's not:

Not too many, but there are significant ones the film could have done without. For one, that cartoonish opening credits sequence and the scene where we find out how and why Eggsy's (Egerton) dad died. Also, it doesn't help that we don't see much of a backstory as far as Samuel L Jackson goes (how and why he got that lisp, what makes him tick, why does he have Gazelle (Boutella) for a femme fatale assistant, etc). Also, the whole spy school tryouts seem quite rushed and hurried. Strong does his best, but the tasks Eggsy and the other aspirants are put through are found wanting, at least when compared to something like Wanted.

What to do:

It's entertaining. Firth is awesome in it and it's genuinely one of the more fun spy flicks going around. Go watch it.