Despite the hubby being a fan of the graphic novels that are the source material for Matthew Vaughn’s surprising 2014 smash hit, there was something about Kingsman that really didn’t appeal to me and it took several years before I finally got round to checking it out, instantly falling in love with the self-deprecating humour and sheer ridiculousness of it all. And if I’m completely honest, an utterly charming and devilishly handsome Taron Egerton did somewhat enhance the viewing experience. As a result, any installment of the Kingsman franchise is always high on my radar so I was quietly excited about The King’s Man, especially considering the many delays due, in large part, to the Covid-19 pandemic.
After experiencing the horrors of war, Duke Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) has sworn to a life of pacifism, choosing instead to support humanitarian causes such as the British Red Cross. After Oxford’s wife Emily is gunned down during an aid visit to South Africa during the Boer War, he makes a promise to protect their son Conrad from violence and destruction but that promise gets harder to keep as Conrad grows into a man, keen to explore and make his mark on the world. In a bid to keep his both his vow of pacifism and the promise to his wide, Oxford tries to show Conrad that there is no need to fight if you can prevent conflict from happening.
Where The Kingsman poked fun at spy thrillers, The King’s Man takes inspiration from the genre, weaving an elaborate story of some secret S.P.E.C.T.R.E-esque organisation masterminding, and puppeteering, global politics and leading figures until the world descends into the chaos that is the Great War. Although Conrad is still determined to serve his country on the front lines, Orlando Oxford, along with his man-servant Shola and housekeeper Polly, establishes a network of spies operating from the secret basement of Oxford’s (familiar looking) stately home and the pattern room atop a certain London tailor’s shop.
“We’re Oxford’s, not rogues”
Returning to the director’s chair, Matthew Vaughn combines his story with key events and figures from the First World War dredging up forgotten – and far too distant – memories of history lessons, which is fun, if not a little convoluted, needing a fair bit of dialogue to lay out the plot. Taken at face value, The King’s Man is pretty good. A well paced war drama with a comedic twist that delivers on emotion, action and visual appeal featuring the crème de la crème of British talent including Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hollander, Matthew Goode, Charles Dance… honestly, the list is rather impressive and seemingly endless.
Although Ralph Fiennes as an aristocrat is a warming and familiar sight, he is swimming in unfamiliar waters as an action star but he seems to relish the challenge. There’s a great sequence that starts with a jump from a plane and ends in a lengthy shootout with the shady and mysterious villain, and the odd fight with a mountain goat thrown in for good measure. Alongside Fiennes, we have Gemma Arterton as the gunslinging, no-nonsense Mary Poppins-esque housekeeper Polly, who uses her fellow ‘invisible’ servants to create a network of eyes and ears that spans the globe, and Djimon Hounsou as loyal manservant Shola who would not jump from a plane but would happily jump in front of a bullet.
Charles Dance does as Charles Dance does in his role as General Kitchener and Tom Hollander magnificently juggles his triple bill as King George, Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas. Rounding out the stellar cast is the likes of Daniel Brühl, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Matthew Goode and Rhys Ifans.
Unfortunately though, with the exception of Rhys Ifans’ rampantly over-the-top outing as the eccentric and infamous Russian monk Rasputin and some fairly on the nose, and somewhat cringey, links to the first Kingsman film – “We’re Oxford’s, not rogues” – The King’s Man is a far cry from the glorious absurdity and chaotic energy that made the first two films so damn entertaining.
