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kate_in_a_book 's review for:
Kingsman: The Secret Service
by Mark Millar
Hmm. Entertaining but problematic, I think I have to conclude. The concept is promising – when difficult teenager Gary has to be bailed out of jail yet again, his secret service uncle gives him the offer of joining the Kingsman training programme for elite hitmen. It’s the only real chance Gary has to get out of the council flat he shares with his mum, step brother and violent douchebag of a stepdad but it’s a severe change from his life of benefits and petty crime. Gary doesn’t fit in with the rich public school kids he’s training with and his uncle isn’t even there, because he’s off figuring out why someone keeps kidnapping celebrities.
The tone varies between genuine violence and goofy old-school-Bond humour, which I was fine with. And at first I didn’t mind how Boy’s Own it all was, but it gradually got more misogynist until I just couldn’t ignore it. If I explain why it would mean a whole lot of spoilers, so I’ll just give you this quote to contemplate.
“Wives and girlfriends are always the key. In every mission I’ve worked on. This is where your seduction training comes in handy because megalomaniacs are never very good in bed. They also tend to be workaholics so the women in their lives are always very lonely, often just looking for a shoulder to cry on. They tend to be a lot more normal than the men…all they wanted was a glamorous lifestyle.”
Add in a complete lack of psychological complexity, a series of lazy stereotypes and an uninteresting big bad, and it’s a wonder I enjoyed it at all. But I must own up that I kinda did. And I kinda want to see the film, despite the very mixed reviews.
The tone varies between genuine violence and goofy old-school-Bond humour, which I was fine with. And at first I didn’t mind how Boy’s Own it all was, but it gradually got more misogynist until I just couldn’t ignore it. If I explain why it would mean a whole lot of spoilers, so I’ll just give you this quote to contemplate.
“Wives and girlfriends are always the key. In every mission I’ve worked on. This is where your seduction training comes in handy because megalomaniacs are never very good in bed. They also tend to be workaholics so the women in their lives are always very lonely, often just looking for a shoulder to cry on. They tend to be a lot more normal than the men…all they wanted was a glamorous lifestyle.”
Add in a complete lack of psychological complexity, a series of lazy stereotypes and an uninteresting big bad, and it’s a wonder I enjoyed it at all. But I must own up that I kinda did. And I kinda want to see the film, despite the very mixed reviews.