2015 - The Year of the Spy

It's not the "Age of Ultron," it's the "AGE OF SPIES"

Did anyone notice this? No? Yes? Well I did. And for me. I think this is great! I'm sure there have been other years were a large number of spy movies have come out within the same time frame or year. But this one stands out because not since the days the Connery Bonds did Hollywood pump out this many big budget Spy Movies. Especially during an era that is dominated by Marvel Superheroes.

There is just something refreshing of having the Spy movie get a new resurgence in the public eye. And it feels highly appropriate that the first two films to kick off the Spy year are two spy comedies. The first one being more of a love letter to the classic spy genre and the other being a straight up comedy in a spy setting. And both of them are original films too. Well... Kingsman is based on a comic, but it wasn't an existing IP in film. This may be a strange way of setting things off, but it is definitely the smart move. Especially for the brilliant Kingsman, which is appropriately the first film of the era, as the film that it is both parodying and tributing is the last spy film to premier this year. And apparently Melissa McCarthy's re-team up with future Ghostbusters director, Paul Feig, is a good time, and is more about a fish out of water trying to play with the big leagues. A nice counter balance to all these seasoned veterans.

It is also interesting that this is the year that James Bond and the Impossible Missions Force are both in the mix. Not only that, with the revelation of Mission: Impossible's title, they both deal with their respective franchise villains returning. Yes, after a rights dispute, Daniel Craig's Bond gets to face off the very definition of Evil Organization in film: SPECTRE. While on the Cruise Train, the Impossible Missions Force gets to face off against their old rivals from Season Five of the original 60s-70s TV show. Yes, if you didn't know, Mission: Impossible is a loose continuation of a 60s TV show. And in the Fifth Season of that show, they went up against a rival organization called The Syndicate. However, they were nowhere near as close to SPECTRE in the evil organization department. But if the title Rogue Nation is any indicator (and a better name than Syndicate) of what they plan to do with The Syndicate, then they'll definitely be evolving as a competitor with SPECTRE for world domination.

But not to let the subject of 60s and 70s era TV shows go away, there is also Guy Ritchie's remake of The Man from UNCLE. Henry Cavill, an English actor, is playing American CIA Agent Napoleon Solo, while Armie Hammer, an American actor, is playing Russian KGB Agent Ilya Kuryakin. Yeah...Hollywood casting logic. But I think there is a lot of irony here, as Cavill always wanted to play James Bond but winds up playing an American spy who is created by Ian Fleming, the author of the 007 novels. Director Guy Ritchie also chose to keep the 60s Cold War setting intact, instead of trying to modernize it. This gives it a nice throwback feel that is more akin to Kingsman, which was a throwback in sense of style but not setting. Time will tell if this obvious franchise starter can indeed hold an audience. Judging by Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes films, it is possible. But that may be because of RDJ, than for his directing.

What is shaky ground however, is Hitman: AGENT 47. While not a straight up spy movie, it definitely has spy elements ranging from crazy missions, crazy gadgets, to incredibly hot barely dressed women. But being a video game adaptation, and a second attempt at that, there is that lingering curse that video game movies are just pure shit. However this film appears to be taking a cue from Hitman: Absolution, which is a game that made Stealth an option, but if one wanted to go gun ho they could. Plus, it feels like it isn't taking itself as seriously as the previous outing with Timothy Olyphant, so there may be a chance it can be a lot more fun to watch. And it's always cool to see Zachary Quinto try something out of his comfort zone: an action movie.

In closing, this is pretty much looking like a great year for spy movies. I think the only thing that's missing from this list is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But it already came out last year so... that's a shame.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Manners Maketh Man. Do you know what that means?

Then let me teach you a lesson.

The Plot

Based on Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons' comic: The Kingsman are an international independent intelligence agency operating at the highest order of discretion. They are the modern day Knights of the Roundtable. When their Lancelot agent (Jack Davenport) is slain, Arthur (Michael Caine) charges the other Kingsmen agents into choosing a new potential candidate to claim the title of Lancelot. Agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth), codename: Galahad, decides to choose an unlikely candidate for the high class position. Enter Eggsy (Taron Egerton) who is the son of a previous candidate for the title of Lancelot but was killed in action. Harry reveals to Eggsy his father's legacy and a chance to become a member of not only high class society, but a gentleman knight in saving the world from evil. Unfortunately for them, a powerful evil is also in the rise in the form of tech mogul Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) and his henchwoman, Gazelle (Sofia Boutella).

Review

Matthew Vaughn is quickly solidifying himself as probably one of my favorite directors. There has never been a single movie of his that I didn't like or even love, and this one is no exception. Which is why I have to state immediately right now that if by any chance you don't like any of the following movies: L4yer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass and X-Men First Class; then chances are you're not going to like or appreciate this movie. Especially if you don't like Kick-Ass and X-Men First Class. But if you do, or if you have an open mind, then here are my thoughts on the film:

I love this film. I really do. But don't get me wrong. I love Man of Steel, but that movie has a ton of flaws that I'm fully aware exist. And this movie has some VERY major flaws. But before I get to the flaws, here's a rundown of what I love about this movie.

Colin Firth. The mostly dramatic and romantic comedy typecasted actor finally gets a chance to play a role he describes as, "the reason I wanted to become an actor." Firth gives an incredible standout performance as Harry Hart, the epitome of what the Kingsman represent. He is very much a throwback to not just the Roger Moore James Bond but also a slight mix of John Steed and Harry Palmer thrown in for extra class. It also helps that the man who played Harry Palmer, Michael Caine, is in this movie as the King Arthur of the Kingsmen Intelligence Agency. With the support of Mark Strong, playing a good guy for once in his mainstream career, as Merlin, all three of them are absolute delights as throwbacks to the classic spy movies of old.

In direct opposition to these High Class Old Fashion English types is a modern age twisted American Billionaire named Richmond Valentine, played by Samuel L. Jackson. He's a combination of many different American billionaires, with the most obvious ones being Russell Simmons, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg. Yet Jackson plays Valentine as a success story gone wrong in terms of he is definitely a good person, but his methods of achieving what he believes to be a better world are completely insane. Which is perfectly suited for making him a throwback to the over the top Bond villains of the classic era of spy movies. He even comes fully equipped with his own standout henchman, or in this case henchwoman named Gazelle, played by Sofia Boutella. She's the sword (haha get it? Cause her feet are swords) that deals with the more violent aspects of Valentine's dealings, mainly because Valentine hates blood and violence. Yes, it is meant to be ironic. And it works perfectly.

But most importantly, someone who is not really a standout but proves to be a promising talent is none other than the leading man of this film and relative newcomer: Taron Egerton. His role of Eggsy is a rather cliche one in being the stereotypical rags to riches character. Yet Egerton is so convincing as someone who grew up as a street kid who learns to become a gentleman spy. This role could've easily have been given to an anxious newcomer and played obnoxiously, but Egerton is so likable as the lead that although he isn't a standout as Firth or Jackson, he felt right and is very capable of working side by side with the big leaguers. I look forward to seeing him in a much more meatier role, because I can already tell this guy is going to be an actor we'll be seeing in many movies in the future. But for what we got from him, he was good.

And of course, in a spy movie that's a throwback to classic James Bond films, you want good action. And this movie definitely has a good action. Not as much as other critics and reviewers have claimed, but when the action scenes do happen they're fantastic. Though I have to say, I was expecting something a little bit more extreme, but this is extreme for this type of movie. The action scenes are pretty much more bloodier versions of Jackie Chan actions sequences, which makes sense since Chan's stunt team was responsible for making the action in the movie. It is also very commendable that Firth and Egerton did 90% of their own stunts, which is incredible to look at. But both of them are still second fiddle compared to Boutella as the sword legged Gazelle. Being a dancer, her action sequences are obviously a lot more refined, and has to be since her character is the best fighter in the movie. Which kind of segues me to one of my negatives of the film.

The female characters are pretty underdeveloped. Other than Gazelle, none of them are interesting. Which is saying a lot, because Gazelle's actions are definitely interesting but as a character she isn't. Then there's Roxy played by newcomer Sophie Cookson. In interviews with Cookson she gives this impression that there is a lot more depth to her character and that it was a big deal for her character to become a Kingsman because a woman has never succeeded. In the film the idea of her being the underdog because she's a woman is never brought up or how important it is for her to become a Kingsman. Which is sad because it seemed like a lot of stuff that revolves around her has been removed for the sake of focusing on Eggsy and Agent Hart. Which it's suppose to, but she was set up as someone important, and she plays a key part in the big finale, but she comes off as not really needed. At least she's not a love interest, I'll give the writers credit for that. And there's also Eggsy's mother played by Samantha Womack who could've been flushed out a little bit better as to why her life went through a downhill spiral, but it doesn't. Now, I usually don't complain about whether a female character is underdeveloped in a spy movie because they're usually just eye candy anyway, but in this film at least two of them were set up to be a lot more than just eye candy. Notice how I'm not asking for development of the Swedish Princess? Eye Candy.

But in the end my major problem with the film is the all around predictability of it. Now, this is a bad thing and a good thing. Mainly because the reason why it is predictable is because it is making fun of how most spy movies are predictable. What makes it feel unpredictable are the dialogue and the execution. But that still doesn't prevent it from being predictable. And yes, there are some people who might argue that the film starts out looking like a children's film that evolves into an adult film halfway through the movie, but it's really all about not having the 150 or 200 million dollar budgets that a standard blockbuster should have. So in other words, they had to make do with what they can and save their money carefully for the more spectacular things and a big finale.

Final Thoughts

Despite being overly predictable and looking very cheaply made for the first act, the movie succeeds by being a genuinely entertaining experience. This movie will make you crave for a more over the top James Bond movie with crazy gadgets and megalomaniac villains over the dark and serious Daniel Craig Bond movies. Not saying Craig's Bond movies are bad because they are dark and serious, it is just nice to see someone bringing back the crazy spy movies in a modern way. This movie is here to entertain and it even tells you it is here to entertain. If you're a fan of Matthew Vaughn's film, Mark Millar's comic books and Roger Moore James Bond movies with a Rated R twist, then this is definitely the movie for you!

SCORE: 8/10 - An enjoyable throwback to the classic Roger Moore James Bond Era