Matthew Vaughn

The Kingsman: The Golden Circle

First Hit:  Terrible story with few bright spots.

What a waste of talent. How do Julianne Moore (Poppy), Taron Egerton (Eggsy), Colin Firth (Harry Hart – whose character died in previous film), Channing Tatum (Tequila), Halle Berry (Ginger), Jeff Bridges (Champ) and Elton John (as himself) all sign up for a story that has disaster written all over it? I don’t know. Maybe the Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn script read better than it worked out to be. Maybe it was Vaughn’s issue because he couldn't deliver what he envisioned in his mind.

I just don’t know, how this happened. Besides a couple reasonable fight scenes and a couple slightly amusing tongue-in-cheek scenes, the premise that Poppy was going to blackmail the President of the United States so that she could freely sell her drugs all over the world, was preposterous.

Maybe the film needed to be WAY over the top in the tongue-in-cheek category to work.

Hart died in the previous film, and to make-up a story that he miraculously survived the shooting by some someone using a FEDEX  or UPS looking plastic bubble wrap around his head and followed by an emotional shock to make him be the same person as before is ludicrous.

Anyway, the Kingsman, who have a limited crew, with Merlin (Mark Strong), Eggsy and the partially defective Hart, are trying to find and destroy Charlie (Edward Holcroft) who makes an attempt to kill Eggsy. Charlie blows-up the country mansion and the tailor shop in London and now want Eggsy. Charlie being a shunned former Kingsman, unbeknownst to Eggsy, is really working for Poppy. Poppy is running her drug trade in a lost city in a jungle. She’s turned it into a 1950’s style base of operations. Really? This is the setup. Really, I kid you not.

Then the writers add this: For help, The Kingsman team up with the Statesman, which is run by Champ. The Statesman is the US version of the Kingsman; an independent spy security agency. It is run out of a distillery, hence the names of their agents, Tequila and Whiskey (Pedro Pascal). Now this is exciting! But wait, there's more...

Not only does Poppy build robotic dogs to protect herself, she likes being entertained, so she has hired Elton John to play songs for her in an empty theater anytime she likes. Elton does have a couple other key momentary appearances, but he’s not an actor and it shows.

Egerton is, at times, fun to watch but the script is so disjointed and unfounded that it lets him and the role down. Moore’s role is hopeless. She attempts to be part tongue-in-cheek and part serious, but because the role is ill defined in an ill-defined movie, it falls flat. Firth seems so out of place in this role it just made me cringe. He needed to stay dead. Strong was one bright spot in the film and his centered acting made his role work. Berry was driven to be so much less than what she is by the role. She's made to be a girl Friday and I disliked her scenes completely. Bridges' role was insipid. That he chose to act in this film is disheartening. Holcroft was good as the maniac bionic armed villain. He made it work. Pascal didn’t fit in this film at all. He seemed out of place and it was clear from the beginning, he wasn’t on the side he said he was on. Tatum was fun at times and it seemed as though he was used in this film as eye candy for a female audience. He added little to the story. John can stay away from acting, even as himself. Goldman and Vaughn script was a mess from the beginning to the end. Vaughn had no vision as a director to deliver a story that would engage the audience. The film was thrown at the audience.

Overall:  Don’t waste your time for this insipid film.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

First Hit:  Tongue in cheek fun while being oddly good.

I didn’t know what to expect when the lights went down. The previews had me believing it was more serious than it ended up being.

That’s not to say it was a comedy, but there are times when either the visuals (heads exploding into a colorful fireworks display) or the lines the actors said (“this is my gun”) were spot on funny.

The film is about a group of wealthy gentlemen who decide they can make things right in the world through intervention, usually armed. The group makes it clear they are not part of any government and have only allegiance to what they believe is right. Michael Caine (playing the group’s leader Arthur – think King), gives each member a historical nickname such as Jack Davenport is “Lancelot”, Mark Strong is “Merlin”, and Colin Firth is Harry Hart AKA “Galahad”.

The opening sequence has a terrorist group holding a global warming expert Professor Arnold (Mark Hamill) hostage. A Kingsman comes in to save the day but gets killed by Gazelle (Sophia Boutella) who is an agent for Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson). Valentine decides that he cannot fix global warming and because people are the issue, if he gets rid of most the people on the planet global warming can be reversed.

The Kingsman are out to stop him and with the death of a Kingsman, they have to recruit a new one. Here is how we meet the next generation of Kingsman, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) and Roxy (Sophie Cookson). I liked having the front for their organization being an English haberdashery in London. The fighting scenes were well choreographed and it was fun to watch Firth be so agile, yet sophisticated in his actions.

Firth was excellent as the prime Kingsman and mentor. Caine was good as Arthur. There is a sophistication he brings that works for this film. Egerton was very good and strong as the young street kid who learns what it takes to become a Kingsman. Jackson was great and embodied the role as the guy who wants to kill (although indirectly) most everyone on the planet. Hamill was fun to see again – it has been years. Boutella was very good as Jackson’s henchman (woman). Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn wrote a fun and amusing script and Vaughn directed this strong cast and story with surety and fearlessness.

Overall:  I enjoyed the film when I saw it and it still resonated the next day. It was violently fun.

The Debt

First Hit: This is a film about how important it is to live the truth.

The film flashes between 1966 and 1997 with ease. Not many films do this without some jarring of the senses and story logic but the direction by Jon Madden on the screenplay by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman was superb.

Rachel Singer (played by both Jessica Chastain and Helen Mirren), Stephen Gold (played by Marton Csokas and Tom Wilkinson) and David Peretz (played by Sam Worthington and Ciaran Hinds) are sent to find Doktor Bernhardt (played by Jesper Christensen) who was a Nazi surgeon that experimented on people in WWII.

The Jewish Israeli government sent these three to East Berlin to capture him and bring him back to Israel to try him for war crimes. In 1997’s time, Rachel and Stephen’s daughter Sarah (played by Romi Aboulafia) has just published a book on this attempt to critical acclaim, but something is brewing.

As the story goes back and forth between the two times zones, we slowly begin to figure out the real story and why there is such deep sadness and fear in the main characters.

The strength of this film is the strength it gains through interlocking segues between time, the story line, and the truth.

Chastain showed strength and mettle in her wonderful portrayal of young Singer. Mirren was extraordinary as the older Singer. Csokas was overtly powerful as young Gold while Wilkinson carried this strength pointedly as older Gold. Worthington was immensely focused and sublime as the single minded Peretz and Ciaran had minimal presence as the older Peretz. Christensen commanded screen presence as the powerful and brutish Nazi surgeon. Aboulafia was very good as Sarah. Vaughn and Goldman wrote an outstanding script. Madden wove this immensely powerful story with an adroit hand and understanding of how to create a logical and comprehensive story spanning 30 years.

Overall: A powerful film which was well made.

Kick Ass

First Hit: An oddly funny and intensely dark action oriented film that is compelling to watch.

My interpretation of the previews was that this would be more comedy than anything else. I was wrong.

This film is also dark and intense. The beginning sets this tone with a young man standing on a very tall building spreading the wings of this superhero costume, the voice over has you believe the voice and person on the building are one in the same. The voice over is talking about the phenomenon as to why more people haven’t tried to become a superhero.

Meanwhile, in the street below, people are standing looking up at the young man as he spreads his wings and jumps off the building. As he speeds towards the ground the crowd gasps and is enthralled. Watching, we all expect him to turn up and either glide or fly to a landing. Instead he just continues straight down crashing head first on to a taxi. Shocking, yes but that isn’t the end of these sorts of scenes.

This film follows the journey of a self proclaimed nerdy young man named Dave "Kick Ass" Lizewski (played by Aaron Johnson) attempting to find his own place in the world by becoming a super hero. Although Dave gets his ass kicked on his first outing as Kick Ass, it gets filmed on mobile phones and these exploits go viral on the internet. He becomes a hero with his own website and emails flood in asking him for his assistance.

In another parallel story, Damon Macready aka Big Daddy (played by Nicolas Cage) and his daughter Mindy aka Hit Girl (played by Chloe Moretz) are practicing their ability to kill and maim efficiently and accurately. They seize on the new wave excitement that Kick Ass is bringing and join him on one of Kick Ass’s attempts to bring justice.

However, what happens is that Big Daddy and Hit Girl (she’s 12 years old) waste the bad guys in a way that shocks Kick Ass. The real goal of Big Daddy and Hit Girl is to kill the town’s mobster and his minions because they killed Big Daddy’s wife.

It is a wild story by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn and made even more intense and visual by Vaughn’s direction. It is comic book, it is outrageously violent (Tarantino like), and it is touching.

Johnson is really good as this guy who can look nerdy and cool all at the same time. The cool kids see him as nerdy and the nerdy kids see him as cool. As Kick Ass he’s perfect. Cage is his usual wild eyed, yet caring father who is a little twisted. Moretz on the other hand is amazing. She carried off the look and feel of a girl doing all the things that she does as Hit Girl. Crouching behind a foyer sculpture stand she looks frightened like a 12 year old, yet when she steps out to kill 7 men shooting at her, she is a superhero and looks it.

Overall: A very entertaining film, but there are shocks and therefore this isn’t your typical film and it is rated R for a reason.

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