While it is set in the Kingsman universe this film didn’t feel like a Kingsman film, but that’s because it was a prequel, and that does not mean it was a bad film.

The King’s Man looks at where the Kingsman Secret Service began. It all begins when a man is working in the Boar War and his wife and son come to visit, his wife is tragically killed and he is injured. We move forward to just before World War I where we see that his son is all grown up and prepared to fight, however he does not wish to lose his son, and there is a great family element to it of love and doing what’s best for yourself but also doing what’s best for your family too, and knowing that someday we all have to grow up.

And that’s how Kingsman really began. In the early days it was a network of butlers and service people listening in on conversations happening around the war, and these maids and butlers etc. being used to decode messages to be able to bring it to an end. It’s a brilliant idea, I absolutely love the thought of this and it reminds me of the Sherlock TV show where he uses the homeless network to connect to the people of London. It’s such an overlooked profession that these people can literally be in the background of anything and no one will think they’re a threat or even notice them.

I enjoyed the history we got about World War I, I didn’t do history as a GCSE and prior to that we mainly looked at World War II, so a lot of the information in this film was new me and it was really intriguing to see it play out visually and to give you so many pointers about what was actually going on, especially with the three cousins that were at the centre of it all. I also enjoyed the inclusion of Rasputin, he was a really fascinating character if incredibly terrifying, and while I feel he was good in the film he could’ve been used a bit more.

And that gets me onto the big baddy. He is a Scottish man and I don’t believe in my recollection that, that plays too much into the conflict, but just shows that there were enemy spies within our ranks in the UK and not everyone was to be trusted. His character was very interesting, I liked how they kept him hidden until the big reveal at the end because that added so much more to his intrigue, and the fact that there was so many little hints to him throughout the film was really fascinating too and definitely gives it a rewatch-ability that I feel it wouldn’t have without that.

However I do feel this is my least favourite Kingsman film just because it is quite reminiscent of other spy films I have seen before and the characters are very of the time, which is perfectly fine, but I feel the others being about a council estate character being thrust into this usually middle-class world brought such an interesting element to it, to completely scrap that takes all that excitement away. I also feel in some ways this film didn’t need to be made, it didn’t matter where the Kingsman came from but where they were going and how it was changing due to the people that they were hiring, and in my opinion I would’ve rather seen another film set maybe even in the future of Eggsy’s son or whatever giving it a go rather than dealing with the beginning where everything doesn’t quite fit into the storyline that we already know.

In my opinion this film was good, I enjoyed it but it was definitely the weakest of the three. For rewatch-ability I like the idea that discovering the big baddy at the end makes you want to go back and watch it again to see any clues that you may have missed, however the first two films definitely excited me more and kept me more intrigued and engaged. So for me, while this may not be a film that I will run back to watch again any time soon, I still very much enjoy the franchise as it is and would still recommend it even if this film doesn’t hold up to the others.

What do you think of The King’s Man?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding