(Film Review) The King's Man

Time to read: 2 min read

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Reputation is what people think of you. Character is what you are.

Previous Kingsman film reviews:

Review

This movie tells the story of the Kingsman organization’s founding. The story follows Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes), an English nobleman who, with the help of his servants (Gemma Arterton and Djimon Hounsou), and his son (Harris Dickinson), try to stop plots that threaten the world during the early 20th century.

While the film has some of the elements from the previous Kingsman films, such as slapstick humour, the film felt much more different from the previous films. For one, it felt much slower and much more serious than the previous films; the extra long montage of WWI trench warfare felt like it was spliced from a completely different movie. While there was some banter between Duke Oxford and his son, the chemistry isn’t nearly as strong as Firth’s Hart and Egerton’s Eggsy.

There are many plot twists like the previous films but the story takes a much darker tone. One plot twist which takes place is surprising, but not in a good way (you’ll understand if you’ve seen the film). The acting is all over the place; some roles were solid, such as Fiennes’ Oxford and Gemma Arterton’s Peggy but others, such as Dickinson’s Conrad Oxford was bland.

The setting is interesting and the cinematography, while darker, is still phenomenal. While superficial, I did enjoy the references to real-life historical events and characters. Overall it felt the film had very little to do with the actual Kingsman franchise.

Conclusion

A decent film if you only care about action sequences and cinematic shots.

Overall rating: 6.7

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