Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine, Sofia Boutella, Mark Hamill

I love it when I go into a film expecting little and come out completely excited because the movie I just saw exceeded my expectations. This is what happened to me with Kingsman: The Secret Service a movie I only had a vague idea about suddenly falls right into my best of the year list. This magnificent James Bond spoof comes to us from Matthew Vaughn, the guy who brought us Kick Ass (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011) and Stardust (2007) all entertaining films in my book. Vaughn wanted to make this movie so badly he said no to directing X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), so that’s how much of a passion project this movie is to Vaughn. Not every director will have the guts to say no to a sure hit that will make millions in order to make a risky film that’s totally original. Sure Kingsman is based on Matthew Vaughn’s own comic book ‘The Secret Service’, but it’s not a household name. It’s not a sure thing. You have to respect a director who believes so much in his film that his willing to do that. The thing is that I see why he did it. Turns out Kingsman was way more entertaining than the last X-Men movie every step of the way, so I’m actually happy Vaughn eschewed X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) for Kingsman.

In Kingsman: The Secret Service we are introduced to Eggsy, a young man who is going down the dark path. He’s all about being a trouble maker. He likes to go to bars to pick fights and cause a ruckus. But there’s something about him, he’s got potential to be something great. Secret Service Agent Harry Hart recognizes this, so he gives him a chance to apply to become a Kingsman. Just what the hell is a Kingsman and does Eggsy have what it takes to become one? Or is he just another loser?

What is so awesome about Kingsman is that it has all these old James Bond movies to build upon. What Matthew Vaughn did was he watched every single James Bond and spy movie ever made, and then he made this one. He cleverly avoids the famous clichés and makes fun of them while at the same time being a good spy movie. It’s a rule of thumb I have for all spoofs. If you’re going to spoof a genre, you still have to be a good film within the genre you are spoofing. Good examples of this are Young Frankenstein (1974) and Spaceballs (1986), two of Mel Brooks most famous spoofs. Young Frankenstein is a damn good Frankenstein movie (actually it was nominated for Best Screenplay in 1974) while still making fun of all those Frankenstein films that came before it. Young Frankenstein is such a good Frankenstein movie that it even surpasses many of the films it is spoofing. Same with Spaceballs, there’s no better Star Wars spoof out there. Funny, yet mindful to the type of film it is. And this is what Kingsman does so well. It takes all those elements you know and love from James Bond films and then twists them around and takes them to another level. If you are a fan of Bond movies, you will have a blast with Kingsman: The Secret Service. It’s always referencing some cliché from the Bond films. In this sense it reminds me William Dear’s If Looks Could Kill (1991), which was also about a teenager who turns into a super spy. It was also a lighthearted, fun film that poked fun at Bond movies, but trust me, Kingsman does it a million times better. Still, if you enjoy Kingsman, check out If Looks Could Kill (1991).

But aside from the spoof aspect of this film, as it turns out, it is also an extremely well written film saying a whole lot about the society we live in and what is wrong with it and boy, I wasn’t expecting this at all, but Kingsman: The Secret Service is one of the most subversive films I’ve seen in a while. It’s a film that sends a big ‘screw you’ to politics and religion. There’s an outstanding sequence that takes place inside of a Christian church that showcases everything that is wrong with religion today. What this story is saying is that politicians and religious leaders are total whackos, they just happen to be running the world, making all the wrong choices for all of us. How do you save the world from these madmen? By becoming a true gentleman, ridding the world of evil. I loved the message that the films puts across. It’s basically saying we can become something better, we can improve ourselves, we can do some good in the world. We have the potential, we just need to focus. It also speaks about the manipulation of the masses, and the control of how they perceive things. I can see why the film is rated ‘R’, it has profanity, nudity and subversive ideas. Its violence quotient is pretty high. It feels as if the filmmakers decided that if they we’re going to go with an ‘R’ rating, they were going to go all in. And that they did; which was awesome. It was so refreshing to see a film that wasn’t worrying about being politically correct.

Final words:  this movie turned out to be one of my favorite of the year; it was entertaining every step of the way. One of the biggest compliments it gets from me is that it was never boring. Not for a second. It brought back that fun element that modern James Bond movies lack. If you take a look at Bond films of today, they are currently on a ‘deadly serious’ phase, all the silly fun from the old movies has been sucked right out of that franchise.  And while I absolutely loved Sky Fall (2012), I miss the whacky element from the old ones, but don’t worry if you’ve been missing that sense of fun adventure from your spy movies, Kingsman: The Secret Service brings it all back.  So remember, what you guys have here is a film that’s very self conscious, it knows the cliché’s and staples of a good spy adventure and plays with them in innovative ways. And one more final note, the Matthew Vaughn’s direction on this one is top notch, his camera moves and angles, the over all direction of the film is truly fantastic. It’s dynamic, the camera angles are interesting, innovative. Case in point? The fights scenes on this movie are a blast! Really fun to watch! Now go see Kingsman: The Secret Service and have a blast, it just might blow your head into a million colorful pieces.

Rating:  5 out of 5  

The Guyver (1991)

Title: The Guyver (1991)

Directors: Steve Wang and Screaming Mad George

Cast: Mark Hamill, David Gale, Jimmy Walker, Michael Berryman, Jack Armstrong, Vivian Wu

Review:

Sometimes in the world of filmmaking, special effect technicians end up making films. The thing about these special effects guys is that they got the knowhow and experience on the technical side of filmmaking. Since they are working in the filmmaking environment all the time, they also got the all important connections to get their ideas made into films. What happens is that since they are responsible for these cool effects sequences in so many movies; they convince producers that they can pull off a good movie, and so their project gets greenlit. The result of having special effects guys making films is that the film will have good looking monsters and visual effects, but bad acting and storytelling. Examples of this are films like Spawn (1997), Virus (1999) and Eragon (2006). These are all films with decent make up and visual effects, but they are also films that suffer from bad storytelling and acting. The main problem with this sort of film is that the filmmakers’ behind them are not storytellers by nature, they are not directors in the true sense of the word, more often then not, these are guys who care more about things looking cool than things making sense. Fx technicians aid the director in bringing his or her vision to life and most of the time they are good at their job, but the truth is that they are not good storytellers or directors. This is the case with The Guyver, a film that is entertaining, fast paced and has excellent looking creatures and make up effects, but suffers from terrible acting. Was it totally unwatchable?

The Guyver tells the story of Sean Barker, a teenager who stumbles upon an alien weapon that turns its wielder into a bio-mechanical weapon. Sean doesn’t know this at first. He believes he’s simply found some weird looking mechanical device, but not an alien armor. So one thing leads to another and Sean ends up becoming one with the Guyver Unit! Now he can fight bullies and stop evil alien corporations from taking over the world at the same time. Bonus! Meanwhile, an alien being known as Fulton Balcus is searching for the Guyver Unit so that he can wear it and become even more powerful so that he can conquer the world and all that. Will Balcus ever come to posses the Guyver Unit? Will Sean become the hero he must become and save the day?

So this film had not one, but two directors! And both of them are guys with vast experience in make up effects work, including sculpting, painting and even art direction. This is the reason why the monsters in the film look so cool. This is the reason why The Guyver itself looks so kick ass; one look at the creatures in this film and its obvious these guys know what they are doing when it comes to creature effects. Reportedly, there are over 50 creature effects in this film! From the very beginning, you’ll see people transforming into monsters. And from the moment when the good guys infiltrate the evil Cronos Corporations’ headquarters forward, you’ll see nothing but monsters. This is totally understandable because collectively, these two directors have been responsible for some pretty cool creatures and make up effects sequences, amongst them the alien in Predator (1987), The Gillman from Monster Squad (1987), The Cockroach Transformation sequence in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988). They’ve also worked in one way or another in make up effects heavy films like Harry and the Hendersons (1987), Godzilla (1998), Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Faust: Love of the Damned (200), Beyond Re-Animator (2003), Necronomicon (1993) and Arena (1989) amongst many others. So these guys are good when it comes to making monsters on a tight budget and even more so when they are given money.

Steve Wang sculpts a creature for Guyver: Dark Hero

The Guyver is the kind of film where make up effects guys like Wang and George are given free reign to just go crazy and do whatever the hell they can come up with, which must be a make up effects technician’s wet dream. It reminded me of a similar film called Robert Kurtzman's The Rage (2007) yet another film in which a make up effects technician was given the opportunity to direct a film and just go nuts with it. The Rage was also a make up effects technicians’ orgasm. So anyways, The Guyver was produced by Brian Yuzna, a producer/director who has been responsible for many straight to dvd horror and science fiction films. I guess he can be compared to Roger Corman in that way, producing horror films till the day they die! You’ve probably heard about some of Yuzna’s projects: Faust: Love of the Damned (2000), the entire Re-Animator franchise, Dagon (2001), Return of the Living Dead III (1993), he even produced the theatrically released Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989) for Disney if you can believe it. But as you can see, he’s a lover of sci-fi/horror. Yuzna’s involvement is the reason why Screaming Mad George and Steve Wang directed The Guyver. They did a lot of make up effects work on many of Yuzna’s own films. This is also the reason why we see David Gale and Jeffrey Combs on this film; they’ve worked with Yuzna and Stuart Gordon many times on the Re-Animator films. So the people behind this film, from actors, to producer and directors all love science fiction and monster movies. There is a genuine love for the genre involved here.

The 'Lisker' creature from The Guyver

The film moves fast, things are never boring and the monster transformations and creatures keep things interesting and fun. The only real negative point on this film is the terrible acting from Vivian Wu, the Chinese actress who plays the daughter of a scientist experimenting with genetics for the Cronos Corporation, she’s so bad on this one that you have to see it to believe it. Incredibly enough, this actress is still making films today! She probably hates this film though cause she’s the worst thing in it. The same can be said for Greg Paik, the young actor who played Sean Barker/The Guyver. His performance is extremely wooden; thankfully he is wearing The Guyver suit most of the time. The film has one of the signs that let’s you know it is a straight to video feature; it has an ex A-list actor in a smaller roll, though by looking at the films poster, you might get the idea that Mark Hamill is the main actor in the film and that it is he who transforms into The Guyver, but alas, that’s just tricky advertisement to make you think Luke Skywalker is The Guyver, which he isnt. Hamill plays a cop investigating all the mysterious deaths surrounding the Cronos Corporation. It’s kind of sad to see a ex-A-list actor doing an extremely low budget movie like this one, but hey, I commend him because he went all out on this one! Not gonna spoil it for those of you who haven’t seen the film, but he has a pretty cool moment. I guess if you have Mark Hamill in your movie, you are contractually obligated to give him a stand out sequence.

All in all, The Guyver is a fun movie to watch. I recommend it to those who enjoy Japanese animated films. This is after all a film that is based on a Japanese animated series called The Guyver: Bio-Boosted Armor, which I might add comes highly recommended from this Film Connoisseur. It is even gorier than the movie, which ended up being less gory than it should have been so it could retain its PG-13 rating. I also recommend this flick to comic book fans, since it is essentially a comic book come to life. What is The Guyver if not a superhero? When he transforms he says “I-am- THE GUYVER!” When he first transforms into The Guyver it’s in this clichéish sequence where the hero is bullied by a bunch of criminals and the violent event triggers his transformation. The film also has transitions that come by the way of a bolt of lightning that appears on the screen, like I said a comic book movie through and through. But of course, the ones that will love this movie the most are all thoe monster lovers out there! If you love your monsters, and you love gooey effects and aliens…you will be in heaven! You just have to survive the wooden acting and bad dialog. But still, a fun ride is guaranteed! This film was followed by a superior sequel (directed by Steve Wang) called Guyver: Dark Hero (1994), I’ll be reviewing that one soon!  

Rating: 3 out of 5