The King's Man
Year: 2021
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Gemma Aterton, Harris Dickinson, Ralph Fiennes & Djimon Housou
Runtime: 131 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 24/03/22
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Gemma Aterton, Harris Dickinson, Ralph Fiennes & Djimon Housou
Runtime: 131 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 24/03/22
I’ve never quite made my mind up about the Kingsman films and it all falls down to just how tonally inconsistent they are and how tasteless they have the ability of being. Whilst series director Matthew Vaughn has an incredible eye for action sequences, his inability to present something sincerely never ceases to be a hurdle I always struggle to overcome. So when the third entry in the Kingsman series was announced, The King’s Man, a prequel set during the First World War, I decidedly didn’t get my hopes too high in the fear that he would take such a fragile time in human history and turn it into a gaudy shooting gallery stuffed with juvenile one liners. The fact that the film then released at Christmas and at the same time as Spider-Man: No Way Home, and The Matrix Resurrections, I actually allowed it to even go so far as slipping under my radar until a home release. Were my suspicions about The King’s Man correct? Or has Vaughn managed to present a WWI spy-thriller that contains the gentlemanly civility these films spout so often?
With global political tensions at breaking point a network of villainous masterminds sets in motion the First World War by assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Ron Cook) and guiding the rulers of the United Kingdom, Germany, and Russia towards war.
In England, the Duke of Oxford (Ralph Feinnes) is trying to prevent his son Conrad (Harris Dickinson) from enlisting in the war effort, being a pacifist and believing that there is no honour in dying for one’s country. But thanks to a network of house servants passing information like spies, the Duke and his staff Polly (Gemma Aterton) and Shola (Djimon Hounsou) establish the Kinsgman secret intelligence service in the hopes of ending the war.
With global political tensions at breaking point a network of villainous masterminds sets in motion the First World War by assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Ron Cook) and guiding the rulers of the United Kingdom, Germany, and Russia towards war.
In England, the Duke of Oxford (Ralph Feinnes) is trying to prevent his son Conrad (Harris Dickinson) from enlisting in the war effort, being a pacifist and believing that there is no honour in dying for one’s country. But thanks to a network of house servants passing information like spies, the Duke and his staff Polly (Gemma Aterton) and Shola (Djimon Hounsou) establish the Kinsgman secret intelligence service in the hopes of ending the war.
I’m surprised to say that The King’s Man does manage to maintain a sense of decorum much better than its predecessors. The tone is far more consistent throughout this film than it ever was in either previous entry in the series, and the action is far less about bloody kills and more about dramatic impact. Whilst there is of course still a fair share of bloody violence presented in an over the top manner, it’s considerably more restrained and fits in better with the sensitivity of the subject matter.
The story itself is also surprisingly accurate to history, something I also wasn’t expecting. Of course the notion of a network of evil villains putting the strings to the worlds leaders is of course fantasy, but many of the characters featured within the story and what they do is about as accurate as you can get for a story that takes the kind of artistic liberty it does.
The pacing can be a little slow, especially in the first half of the film, but The King’s Man does a good job at outlining how World War One ended up becoming what it was without getting too invested in the minutiae. It’s the idiots guide to war which I feel is a great way to set up this story because it does get very involved in real world politics, but the target audience are likely people who know very little about the subject matter.
The ending was a little underwhelming in the sense that it does close off quite a lot of plot threads when I feel like it would have actually been better to leave it more open to a sequel, allowing the villainous organisation at the centre of all of this to be developed into something tangible rather than the shadows and silhouettes we see over the majority of this films runtime. It’s strange to say that I would have rather had more left unanswered for a sequel to pick up on, but I do actually feel like The King’s Man has potential to be a fun spin-off series to the mainline modern day Kingsman series.
Fiennes’ performance is the standout here, as is often the case with any project he is involved with, especially if he gives a damn about the character which does appear to be the case here with the Duke. Whilst the other cast members such as Aterton and Hounsou are good, they are so overshadowed by Fiennes that they do begin to fade into the background a little.
The one performance that does manage to leave a lasting impression is Rhys Ifan’s portrayal of Rasputin, royal physician to the Romanoff family. He is incredibly captivating in the role and any scene where he is present is uncomfortably weird, crucially without messing up the tone of the film. The fight scene between the Duke and Rasputin is also one of the film’s best moments with some excellent choreography.
The King’s Man was a surprise hit for me and perhaps my favourite film in the Kingsman franchise so far. The more consistent tone and less gratuitous violence allowed the film to convey the more sensitive subject matter far better without losing that distinctly Kingsman identity. I’d love to see follow up films with Fiennes and co. returning, though the lukewarm critical reception and the less than stellar box office performance may mean that the chances of seeing another King’s Man film are slim. Hopefully though Vaughn will take on the lessons he’s learned here forward with him into the third modern Kingsman film so that it may not repeat the same mistakes as its predecessors.
The story itself is also surprisingly accurate to history, something I also wasn’t expecting. Of course the notion of a network of evil villains putting the strings to the worlds leaders is of course fantasy, but many of the characters featured within the story and what they do is about as accurate as you can get for a story that takes the kind of artistic liberty it does.
The pacing can be a little slow, especially in the first half of the film, but The King’s Man does a good job at outlining how World War One ended up becoming what it was without getting too invested in the minutiae. It’s the idiots guide to war which I feel is a great way to set up this story because it does get very involved in real world politics, but the target audience are likely people who know very little about the subject matter.
The ending was a little underwhelming in the sense that it does close off quite a lot of plot threads when I feel like it would have actually been better to leave it more open to a sequel, allowing the villainous organisation at the centre of all of this to be developed into something tangible rather than the shadows and silhouettes we see over the majority of this films runtime. It’s strange to say that I would have rather had more left unanswered for a sequel to pick up on, but I do actually feel like The King’s Man has potential to be a fun spin-off series to the mainline modern day Kingsman series.
Fiennes’ performance is the standout here, as is often the case with any project he is involved with, especially if he gives a damn about the character which does appear to be the case here with the Duke. Whilst the other cast members such as Aterton and Hounsou are good, they are so overshadowed by Fiennes that they do begin to fade into the background a little.
The one performance that does manage to leave a lasting impression is Rhys Ifan’s portrayal of Rasputin, royal physician to the Romanoff family. He is incredibly captivating in the role and any scene where he is present is uncomfortably weird, crucially without messing up the tone of the film. The fight scene between the Duke and Rasputin is also one of the film’s best moments with some excellent choreography.
The King’s Man was a surprise hit for me and perhaps my favourite film in the Kingsman franchise so far. The more consistent tone and less gratuitous violence allowed the film to convey the more sensitive subject matter far better without losing that distinctly Kingsman identity. I’d love to see follow up films with Fiennes and co. returning, though the lukewarm critical reception and the less than stellar box office performance may mean that the chances of seeing another King’s Man film are slim. Hopefully though Vaughn will take on the lessons he’s learned here forward with him into the third modern Kingsman film so that it may not repeat the same mistakes as its predecessors.