Kingsman: The Secret Service is a spy film directed by Matthew Vaughn, and based on the comic book The Secret Service, created by Dave Gibbonsand Mark Millar. The screenplay was written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman. It follows the recruitment and training of a potential secret agent, Gary "Eggsy" Unwin (Taron Egerton), into a secret spy organisation. Eggsy joins a mission to tackle a global threat from Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), a wealthy megalomaniac. The film also stars Colin Firth, Mark Strong, andMichael Caine.
Kingsman: The Secret Service premiered at the annual film marathon Butt-Numb-A-Thon on 13 December 2014, and was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 29 January 2015. The film received positive reviews, and has grossed over $413 million worldwide, becoming Vaughn's most commercially successful film to date.
A sequel is scheduled for a June 16, 2017 release.
Seventeen years later Professor James Arnold is kidnapped by unknown assailants, led by Internet billionaire Richmond Valentine. One of Hart's fellow agents, "Lancelot", attempts to stage a rescue, but is killed by Gazelle, Valentine's henchwoman. Valentine, known for his philanthropy, continues to meet with various heads of state and VIPs, some of whom go missing afterwards. He also announces a giveaway of SIM Smart cards, granting a lifetime of free cellular and Internet access to anyone who wants it.
During this time, Kingsman has been investigating Valentine in connection with VIP disappearances and notes that Arnold is no longer missing. Hart tracks down Arnold and confronts him about his abduction. A chip implanted in Arnold's head explodes, killing him; Hart is injured during his escape from unknown assailants. Undeterred, Hart poses as a billionaire and dines with Valentine to try to discern his plans.
In London Eggsy is now an unemployed young adult living with his mother, infant half-sister, and abusive stepfather Dean. Despite being intelligent and capable, he left training for the Royal Marines and lives an aimless life. After being arrested for stealing a car, Eggsy calls the number on the back of the medal. Hart arranges for his release and tells Eggsy about the existence of Kingsman, a secret intelligence agency for which both he and Eggsy's father worked. In the wake of Lancelot's death, the agency opens a vacancy for a new agent, and Eggsy agrees to apply as Hart's candidate. He joins a group of other candidates including a woman named Roxy, whom he befriends. Training is overseen by "Merlin", a senior Kingsman who acts as teacher, quartermaster, pilot and Ops co-ordinator. The candidates are eliminated one by one until only Eggsy and Roxy remain. Eggsy fails his final test - asked to shoot a dog he had raised from a puppy with a gun secretly loaded with blanks - and Roxy becomes the new Lancelot.
Hart tracks Valentine to an obscure hate group church in Kentucky, where Valentine and Gazelle are conducting a test. They broadcast a signal, which is picked up by cellphone SIM cards and causes everyone in the church, including Hart, to become uncontrollably violent. A mass brawl breaks out, with Hart the sole survivor, while Eggsy, Merlin and "Arthur" — Kingsman's leader — watch via video link. Valentine approaches Hart and kills him after revealing his plan.
Eggsy returns to the Kingsman headquarters, where he discovers that Arthur is one of Valentine’s converts. Arthur explains Valentine's views: humanity is akin to a virus, and global warming is the Earth's equivalent of a fever. Valentine intends to kill the virus before it kills the host, broadcasting his signal worldwide to cause a massive culling of the human race. Only a select few that Valentine has deemed worthy of living—those who have sided with him and thus received the protective microchips in their heads, and the VIPs he kidnapped—will be spared.
After avoiding Arthur’s attempt to kill him — killing Arthur as he does so — Eggsy teams up with Merlin and Roxy, the new Lancelot. Lancelot pilots a high-altitude balloon vehicle into the stratosphere to disrupt Valentine's satellite network with a missile, while Eggsy and Merlin directly assault Valentine’s mountain bunker. Lancelot knocks out the satellite, not realising that Valentine has a substitute satellite. Valentine activates the signal, causing global pandemonium.
Eggsy and Merlin infiltrate the bunker. Merlin hacks the system, successfully disturbing the signal for a while, before Valentine activates the fingerprint scanner, thus countering the hack. Eggsy is later surrounded by the guards, but Merlin activates the chips implanted into everyone involved in Valentine's scheme, killing everyone except Valentine and Gazelle. Eggsy fights Gazelle and kills her with a booby-trapped shoe given to him earlier by Hart. Eggsy then manages to kill Valentine, ending the worldwide carnage.
In a mid-credits scene Eggsy, now Harry's replacement as Galahad,[citation needed] reaches out to his mother, offering her a nicer house and a chance to get away from Dean. In a callback to when Hart recruited Eggsy, Dean and his subordinates move to attack, and Eggsy quotes his old mentor by saying "manners maketh man" before moving on to effortlessly knocking Dean down with a mug of beer.
CastTaron Egerton as Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, a poor Londoner who is chosen by Galahad as his Kingsman candidate. Alex Nikolov portrays a young Eggsy.
Colin Firth as Harry Hart / Galahad, a veteran Kingsman agent who takes Eggsy under his wing.
Samuel L. Jackson as Richmond Valentine, a billionaire philanthropist who speaks with a lisp and has a weak stomach for blood and violence.
Mark Strong as Merlin, a senior Kingsman agent and trainer.
Michael Caine as Chester King / Arthur, the leader of the Kingsman organisation.
Sophie Cookson as Roxanne "Roxy" Morton, a trainee who befriends Eggsy. She later becomes the new Lancelot.
Sofia Boutella as Gazelle, Valentine's amputee henchwoman with bladed prosthetic legs.
Samantha Womack as Michelle Unwin, Eggsy's mother.
Geoff Bell as Dean, Eggsy's stepfather and Michelle's abusive second husband.
Edward Holcroft as Charlie Hesketh, Arthur's Kingsman candidate and Eggsy's primary rival during the training program.
Mark Hamill as Professor James Arnold, an academic from Imperial College London and an expert in climate change.
Jack Davenport as Lancelot, a Kingsman agent who obtained his title in the mission that took the life of Eggsy's father.
Jack Cutmore-Scott as Rufus Saville, a Kingsman candidate.
Lily Travers as Lady Sophie
Richard Brake as The Interrogator, a man working for Lady Sophie. He is impersonated by Galahad and Arthur, while interrogating Eggsy, Roxy and Charlie.
Andrei Lenart as Arctic Guard
Jonno Davies portrays Lee Unwin, Eggsy's father and a former Kingsman candidate who sacrificed himself to save Hart.Hanna Alström portrays Princess Tilde, and Bjørn Floberg plays the Swedish Prime Minister. Nicholas Banks, Nicholas Agnew, Rowan Polonski and Tom Prior portray, respectively, Digby Barker, Nathaniel, Piers and Hugo Higins, the other four Kingsman candidates. Fiona Hampton plays Amelia, a Kingsman agent who pretends to be a candidate in order to set up the first test.
ProductionThe project originated when Mark Millar and Vaughn were at a bar discussing spy movies, lamenting that the genre had become too serious over the years and deciding to do "a fun one." To have the time to make the film, Vaughn had to opt out of directing X-Men: Days of Future Past, which he called "a really tough decision".He reasoned that if he did not do it, "somebody else ... [would] wake up and do a fun spy movie. Then I will have written a bloody screenplay that no one will want to make." Colin Firth joined the cast to lead the film on 29 April 2013.It was initially reported in 2013 that Leonardo DiCaprio was in talks to play a villain, although Vaughn himself later denied that he was ever considered stating that he came as close to playing the role "as I am to becoming the Pope." In September 2013, Vaughn cast Sophie Cookson for the female lead, preferring a newcomer over more obvious candidates like Emma Watson and Bella Heathcote. Mark Hamill was cast in a cameo role as Professor James Arnold, a reference to his character in the source comic book being named "Mark Hamill".
Filming
Principal photography began 6 October 2013 in Deepcut, Surrey, on a budget reported to be one-third of the $200 million budget of Skyfall.
The Alexandra Road Estate in Camden was used for Eggsy's home area, and some scenes were filmed at Imperial College London. The Black Prince Pub in Kennington, South London, was used for various fight scenes and the car chase.Savile Row in Mayfair was also employed as a location and the exterior of tailors Huntsman, which provided the clothes.
While rumours of several celebrity cameo parts were published, including Adele, Elton John, Lady Gaga, andDavid Beckham, none of these rumours proved to be true.
MusicMain article: Kingsman: The Secret Service (soundtrack)
In May 2014, it was reported that Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson would be composing the music for the film, while in July it was announced that Gary Barlow would be writing the music for the film. Additionally, a song from Take That's seventh studio album III, "Get Ready for It", played during the end credits.
ReleaseThe film's premiere was held in London, with director Vaughn and stars Firth, Egerton, and Strong attending, and Take That performing the film's theme live. A regional premiere was held in Glasgow at exactly the same time as the London event, and live footage was streamed from the premiere to Glasgow. Mark Millar also hosted a charity screening of the film ahead of its release in Glasgow to raise money for his old school, St. Bartholomews.
The film opened in the United Kingdom on 29 January 2015. In the United States 20th Century Fox planned to release the film on 14 November 2014, but later delayed it to 6 March 2015. It was later moved up to 24 October 2014,before being delayed again to 13 February 2015.
The film was released in most of Latin America and Indonesia, with the action scene set in the church removed. The scene, considered vital by the director and film critics, was excised almost completely, leaving only the set-up and immediate consequences.
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