When I first saw Kingsman: The Secret Service in theaters I wasn’t really sure what I saw.  What I did know was that I completely enjoyed myself and wanted to see it again.  Now on my third viewing I can honestly say that I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a movie like it and that’s for good and for bad.  Trust me, the good definitely outweighs the bad and Matthew Vaughn has crafted an incredibly exciting spy movie send up with such style that it’s a movie I’ll be revisiting many times over.

One thing this movie does and does extremely well are action set pieces and you can tell that Vaughn is working with fresh ideas as how to stage them.  In fact before the story even starts to take shape we’re introduced to some exciting and well staged action scenes that really set the tone for the film.  We see an excellent Colin Firth in action and are introduced to our villain played by a lispy Samuel L Jackson all within the first moments of the film and from there the movie moves at break neck pace.  The organization of the Kingsman are introduced and we see it all through the new eyes of Eggsy, played brilliantly by newcomer Taron Egerton, and an origin story is started.  Spy stories have always been some of my favorite films because of the cool gadgets and fun scenarios which Vaughn has a lot of fun playing with here.  Eggsy continues his progression and we also find out that Jackson’s villain is up to no good (of course) but through it all the story moves quickly and really never stops to breathe.  The problems start to arise from this pace as Vaughn seems to sacrifice some story or characters for more style and humor, which all hits but you kind of feel that a few training scenes could have been sacrificed to learn more about why some of the characters are doing the things they’re doing.  The term “style over substance” come to mind here but Kingsman is a movie that is so enjoyable and done so damn well that even after a few things are sacrificed, you’re having so much fun that you almost don’t mind.  By the time we reach the one action sequence that everyone talks about it’s hard to remember that things were passed over because you’re so engrossed in the scene itself.  The endgame is set in motion which leads to a somewhat underwhelming finale with a ridiculous final twist but being honest, it’s also hilarious and I’ve laughed every single time.

I’m a fan of Matthew Vaughn’s work because for good or bad the man makes entertaining films.  There may be plot holes, over the top action scenes and things that don’t really make sense but you’re always so entertained that those things are easily forgiven.  Kingsman is no different and for everything that I think detracts from the film there are at least three things that I’ll rave about as fun, exciting and original.  Maybe it’s not perfect but Kingsman: The Secret Service is one of my favorite films of the year, maybe not the best, but a favorite that I’ll go back to.

Recommend? Hell yeah, get some popcorn and settle in for some serious fun!