THE KING'S MAN (2021) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Matthew Vaughn
Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans,
Harris Dickinson, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew Goode,
Charles Dance, Alexandra Maria Lara, Daniel Brühl
The first thing you notice about this movie, if you've seen the two previous "Kingsman" films, is that it's different from the rest. Not completely, but a lot. The Savile Row tailor shop's the same, and the gents are still checking into Fitting Room 1 for their "oxfords, not brogues." But the time frame's 100 years earlier - World War One - and it's an origin story, about how the elite band of impeccably attired Kingsman agents came to be. It's less transgressive slapstick and more escapist adventure this time around. There are no exploding heads, and nobody proposes a bit of buggery as a reward for saving the world. By reaching so far back - the story actually begins with the Boer War - it leaves the future of the franchise wide open. In an apparent competition to see which villain can go more shamelessly over the top, Rhys Ifans as Rasputin battles Matthew Goode's Scottish accent to a draw.
