Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) Movie Review

Star cast: Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, Michael Caine, Sophie Cookson, Sofia Boutella, Mark Hamill, Jack Davenport, Samantha Womack, Geoff Bell, Edward Holcroft, Nicholas Banks, Jack Cutmore-Scott & Fiona Hampton
Direction: Matthew Vaughan
Screenwriters: Matthew Vaughan & Jane Goldman
Censor Certificate: A
Runtime: `131 Minutes

“The Kingsman agents are the new Knights”

Based on the 2012 comic book The Secret Service by Mark Millar – Dave Gibbons. Kingsman: The Secret Service is Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin’s (Taron Egerton) coming-of-age story.  Harry ‘Galahad’ Hart (Colin Firth), a spy who works for the convoluted Kingsman organization, recruits Eggsy, an unrefined, mischievous roughneck, who is the son of a former agent, to thwart the ominous plan of a maniacal industrialist named Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson). Eggsy must first complete the Kingsman spy training before he truly understands that “manners maketh man.”

Matthew Vaughn already impressed us with his take on Mark Millar‘s Kick-Ass, but Kingsman elevates his bluster filmmaking style to new highs. Everything about the film is absolute derisory, walking the thin line between dangerous and uproarious with cock-a-hoop wildness. It very keenly pays homage to respectable spies of the 1960s (Esp. James Bond), and has a lot of fun playing with the tropes and stereotypical elements – frequently breaking the fourth wall in the process. It does not work as a full-on spoof, but as with Kick-Ass, Vaughn overturns the genre and produces a ballsy, wholly original idea that twists the original narrative into something else entirely.

Some odd Kingsman – Templar similarities:

The classic Arthurian round table conference suggesting its clear association with Masonic Templer (Freemasonry) [Link] orders of global cryptography and it immediately recalls us of Anders Brevik (Link), purporting to be a European Templar fighting the rise of Islam. The Arthurian mythos of the grail and the fables of divine right are therefore an integral aspect of the private side of the establishment, especially in the United Kingdom, making the title King’s men clear.  With the center of world Masonry located at the Grand Lodge in England, these associations are not accidental.  These early indicators are intended to cue viewers into the esoteric working that is going to be presented. According to the documents of the 1312 Council of Vienne, (Link) one of the ecumenical councils of the Roman Catholic Church. The scandal against the Templars themselves and their order in reference to the crimes already mentioned increased. These proceedings go on to ascribe buggery and mystic and proponent practices to the Templars with the dissolving of the order forcing them to go underground. From this legend came the associations with modern speculative Freemasonry and secret orders, all of which love to claim some shadowy connection to Templar-ism. Crowley’s own Order of the Eastern Templars (Link) claims descent from this ideology, as well.  With Kingsman we can rest assured connecting these dots is precisely what is intended, since Hollywood is cinematic heresy. The recruits of the Kingsmen are therefore knights of the esoteric round table of the cryptoc-racy, centered in London, and as the information generally goes, all the dastardly acts of the global villains are actually the modus operandi of the heroic establishment. The new knight recruits are led to believe they must sacrifice humans for the greater good and that killing for the state is an honorable duty.  While this is a classic tribal mentality and in days past, the instinct to defend the tribe is rational. However, in our day, we live under a global shadow government monocracy that utilizes technological propaganda to manipulate nationalism for evil ends.

Getting deeper Micheal Aquino, founder of Templer of set, and the commander who co-authored From PSYOP to Mindwar: The psychology of victory (Link) in which footnotes states the villainous scenarios. Like;

Spoilers Ahead:

Ionization of the Air: An abundance of negative condensation nuclei (“air ions”) in ingested air enhances alertness and exhilaration, while an excess of positive ions enhances drowsiness and depression.

Extremely Low Frequency waves: ELF waves up to 100 Hz are once more naturally occurring, but they can also be produced artificially (such as for the Navy’s Project Sanguine for submarine communication).

Similarly, Gordon J. F. MacDonald, a geophysicist specializing in problems of warfare, has written that timed artificially excited electronic strokes could lead to a pattern of oscillations that produce relatively high power levels over certain regions of the earth. In this way, one could develop a system that would seriously impair the brain performance of very large populations in selected regions over an extended period.

It is not stochastic chance this was included in the Kingsman script, and the plot gets even battier. When Valentine chooses a backwoods Kentucky anti-semite church, having led Galahad (Firth) there. The frequency manipulation results in Galahad assassinating all the church members in a bloody festival of gore that hints at a mass ritual murder.  While Galahad did not intend to do this, the frequency manipulation resulted in his assassin programming triggering, framing him for mass murder.

Similarly Valentine says he will destroy the virus of humanity so that Gaia can be healed. The major global plan is outlined from Club of Rome to Georgia Guidestones (Link). The Malthusian Establishment to massively depopulate (Link) the planet while being secreted away to underground doomsday bases enduring whatever the chosen bioweapons happens to be.

Even Bill Gates given an open speech about depopulating through Covert Means. Link.

Kingsman reveals the valentines plan being micro chipped. This indicates the well intentioned intelligence agents are serving in dark plan which can be ultimately results in their own destruction. Here I want to add an American Air force (Link) plan with implantable microchips way back in 1990 & that’s why we are forced to its propaganda for the acceptance of transhumanism (Link) through prosthetics.

Sorry for the lengthy point of view about the secret Templars and its connections with the movie. Coming back to the movie, what’s particularly disappointing in spy riff is that there is something more interesting imbuing beneath its glossy surfaces. With shades of 1% entitlement and climate change concerns creeping into the plot, Vaughn and fellow screenwriter Jane Goldman miss the chance to infuse some hard-hitting satire into their blood-drenched set pieces. It reminds me of The Avengers (1998) movie, where the plot revolved around global villains using atmospheric weapons to control earth. With Kingsman it’s more sophisticated (laid with humor). Another problem with the movie is its character development; The two lead actors were okay. Egerton is a bit of a mixed bag. The relative Newcomer has a very trembling start in the film, taking a long while to really become convincing in the Role. He does fine as a one-dimensional wise-ass, but the real power and electricity of his performance is not unlocked until halfway through the ridiculously perturbed 3rd Act. Once he breaks out of the confines of the narrative and goes all in, he is just as bad-ass as the Film needs him to be, and he appears to have just as much fun as we are having watching the Film. My issues are with the others. Most of the supporting characters were awfully developed. Roxy, outcasted female lead, who manages to become a part of Kingsman and take part in the rebel three person mission, who didn’t have any human qualities. A typical female character, who tries to get her way in a man’s game, yet ends up being a nervous girl who constantly needed support and motivation through every task. Even the villain was more of cartoon character, who simply decided to cleanse the world. Why? Because stuff and things. Man is killing Earth. That is why we kill man. Jackson‘s silly lisp initially takes away any sort of satire or parody he may be going for in the Role. I was hoping for some kind of explanation to why Valentine’s assistant had the kick-ass blade prosthetic on her legs or any kind of a backstory for her but nope, we got nothing. Bat-zee Michael Caine is wasted. Then there are the accoutrements. Kingsman gets the trappings just right for the most part. There’s gizmo galore, and Vaughn demonstrates how to handle spy gadgetry in the modern age.

Kingsman has all the constituents handy for a tasty meal of action heroics with some cheeky wit, but in its attempt both to compete and to poke fun at the spy genre. It forgets that the villain in such an effort is truly maniacal and threatening. Oh the villain here is goofy, little lisp, an antipathy to blood, and a murder that kicks the third act into gear with the effect of an instinctual punch. Otherwise, this is frantic, unmemorable fare that rides the flaps of its own smartness without really engaging it.

Survi Review: 2.5/5