Reviewed by Chris Eberle

Kingsman: The Secret Service - Blu-ray Movie Review

Synopsis

Young Eggsy (Edgerton) loses his father to mysterious circumstances. Growing up as a wild street kid he encounters a gentleman named Harry Hart (Firth) who wants to offer him an opportunity. It turns out Eggsy’s father was a Kingsman – a super-secret agent dedicated to the protection of the world. Using a high-end tailor shop as cover, the Kingsman travel the globe foiling the plots of megalomaniac villains seeking to destroy mankind.

It seems that billionaire tech pioneer Valentine (Jackson) wants to destroy most of the population in a culling so he can reseed the Earth with his chosen elite. He manages to distribute free SIM cards to everyone on the planet which turns their phones into mind control devices. Eggsy meanwhile goes through training to become an agent but fails the final test. He goes home but quickly finds he’s the only one who can get into Valentine’s compound and save the human race from extinction. Facing impossible odds, it’s up to Eggsy to save the day.

Specifications

  • 20th Century Fox
  • 2014, Color, Rated R, 2 Hrs 9 mins
  • 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio
  • Starring: Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Samuel L. Jackson
  • Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Rating

  • Entertainment:
  • Video:
  • Audio:
  • Extras:
  • Violence: Yes
  • Sex: Brief
  • Language: Yes

Commentary

There have been many James Bond spoofs and imitators and I have to say Kingsman is by far the best one yet. The plot is serious but the characters are over-the-top comic book fare; appropriate, since Kingsman is based on a popular comic. The references to Bond films, and many other movies for that matter, are everywhere. The name of the game here is style and Colin Firth could not have been a better choice for the role of Eggsy’s mentor. I never thought I’d see him carrying an action film but not only does he turn in a supremely entertaining performance, he even does most of his own stunts.

As the villain, Samuel L. Jackson takes on a role atypical of his usual characters. Not that he hasn’t played the bad guy before but his excellent comedic timing was both unexpected and enjoyed. I think my favorite aspect though was the cinematography. Fight scenes are not only choreographed in unique ways, the camera angles and movements are something I truly haven’t seen before. Director Matthew Vaughn and Cinematographer George Richmond combine rotating perspectives together with slow-motion and stylized violence that never becomes gory or excessive. Watching the action sequences put a smile on my face as I sat on the edge of my seat.

If you enjoy spy flicks, Kingsman: The Secret Service is a must-add for your movie library. I’ve happily added it to mine.

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Technical

If you watch this Blu-ray on a calibrated display as I did, you’ll find it looks a tad warm. It seems like the film-makers wanted to compensate for the too-blue white point that most televisions are set to. While the image was nicely saturated and detailed, the color palette tended too much toward yellow which flattened the picture somewhat. Contrast however was nice and deep with excellent blacks and bright highlights that popped.

The music for this film is front and center in the DTS-HD Master Audion 7.1-channel encode. I enjoyed the eighties rock and full orchestra mix put together by composers Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson. Unfortunately dialog and sound effects take a back seat and are mixed too politely for my taste. Some of the British accents are very thick and the receded dialog made things hard to understand at times.

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Extras

Bonus features include a 90-minute six-part featurette on the making of the film and its background as a comic book. You also get three still image galleries and a theatrical trailer.

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