The King’s Man: Film Review
I am a huge fan of Kingsman: The Secret Service and enjoyed the sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle (even if it was all over the place), so I had high hopes for The King’s Man but it’s very hit and miss.
Matthew Vaughn‘s prequel film focuses on several events during World War I and the birth of the Kingsman spy organisation. It follows the Duke of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) and his son Conrad (Harris Dickinson) as they carry out assignments from King George (Tom Hollander) to help England win the war.
I went in expecting this film to be similar to the other Kingsman movies but it’s not at all. It’s more of a period war movie than a spy film. In fact, the connection to the main franchise is very loose and tenuous and is only apparent towards the end, although I liked some of the phrases such as “manners maketh man” making an appearance.
The story had a lot of issues. It was too long, the tone was uneven, the pacing was off (way too slow in some scenes), it took a while to get going and the writing wasn’t amazing. Also, the original Kingsman had a great sense of humour and felt very tongue-in-cheek and The King’s Man isn’t as much fun – I laughed a few times probably.
However, I liked it for other reasons. I enjoyed how Vaughn took real characters and stories from history and twisted them to fit his narrative, plus there are a few entertaining action scenes (particularly Rasputin’s dance/fight) and some very cool-looking shots. It was also a genius idea to cast Hollander as the three cousins – King George, Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas.
It was nice to see Fiennes kicking ass in an action role, with back-up from his right-hand man Shola (Djimon Hounsou). Dickinson did well as the son determined to break free from his overprotective father and prove himself in the war, and Gemma Arterton had a great no-nonsense attitude as their housekeeper Polly. Rhys Ifans was hilarious as Rasputin and Matthew Goode was finally allowed to break out of his usual clean-cut posh mould for once.
The King’s Man is a real mixed bag. One thing is for sure – I miss Taron Egerton and Eggsy!
In cinemas now