When it comes to making prequels to well-established storylines, the results have most attempts paling in comparison to their predecessors with the Star Wars prequel trilogy being a prime example despite few occasions where such attempts have proven to be surprisingly decent like Disney's Cruella or Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class. With The Kings Man (Also co-written written and directed by Vaughn), the film aims to show the formation of the Kingsman agency that was established with Vaughn's 2015 hit Spy action/comedy Kingsman: The Secret Service. The former maintains its predecessors tone of stylistic filmmaking and unique world building, ultimately making a faithful prequel that's consistent with the original.
Set before the events of The Secret Service, The Kings Man's plot revolves around one mans race against time to stop histories worst tyrants and criminal masterminds as they join forces to plot a war that could not just wipe out millions of people but destroy humanity. What drew audiences to the original Kingsman was it's combination of James Bond mixed with a more over-the-top and silly tone. The prequel keeps in line with the originals twisting of historical events while surrounding them with thrilling fiction. Though the film is uneven tonally speaking, the newest Kingsman doesn't cease to squeeze every bit of entertainment out of its story, despite how absurd it appears. Despite not matching the quality of The Secret Service, the prequel marks a strong improvement over its follow-up Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
As for The Kings Man's cast, the acting is terrific with Ralph Fiennes delivering a masterful performance as Orlando, Duke Of Oxford, whose shown to walk the corridors of power both as an ambassador as well as the founder of an invisible secret service organization, that's skillful in breaking the most secretive of codes. Along with Fiennes, Harris Dickinson impresses as Duke's son Conrad Oxford, who desires to be apart of his father's organization and shows open frustration at being intentionally sidelined. Both Dickinson and Fiennes show strong chemistry while making their father-and-son dynamic believable. Gemma Arterton does well as Orlando's housekeeper and love interest Polly Wilkins with Rhys Ifans in a ridiculously over-the-top performance as the mystical Grigori Rasputin. Other noteworthy supporting roles include Matthew Goode as the films overreaching main antagonist Captain Morton/Shepherd, along with Daniel Bruhl as Erik Jan Hanussen. Djimon Hounsou leaves an impression upon audiences with his role as Duke's servant Shola with Tom Hollander admirably performing multiple acting duties as King George/Percival, Kaiser Wilhelm, and Tsar Nicholas ll. Overall, Kings Man's cast is strong with everyone bringing performances to the table that deliver a enormous amount of energy.
Returning to the directors chair is Matthew Vaughn, who helmed the previous entries in the series. Here, he gives the prequel a stunning visual look for its early 1900 setting with the World War l atmosphere boasting stellar set and costume design. Like the previous Kingsman's, Vaughn delivers the same over-the-top style of brilliantly assembled action and fight scenes which include tons of blood with sprinkles of gore. Such examples include Shola's fight with Rasputin, Conrad's nighttime descent into No Man's Land, or Orlando's character attempting to parachute onto a plateau, yet becomes trapped in the wing of his plane, and barely misses the edge of a cliff. As extreme as these scene appear, it's Vaughn's smooth style of directing that makes them thrilling. Given its two hour running time, Kings Man is steadily paced with the action complimenting the story and characters. With his directorial efforts, Vaughn maintains the same tonal atmosphere of the previous films with both the action and cinematography being striking to watch.
When it comes to writing, The Kings Man's script pushes a strong nonviolence narrative with its plot exploring the formation of the Kingsman agency along with taking historical facts and adding fun twists to them. The heart of the story lies within the relationship between Orlando and Conrad with the former trying to keep his son from joining the agency at his mother's dying request. Their dynamic is highlighted with cleverly-written dialogue such as Conrad proclaims to his father: "You can't keep me locked away as the world burns." Rasputin's character is portrayed as being highly repulsive and intimidating with him shown to manipulate Russia's Tsar Nicholas ll by poisoning his hemophiliac son Alexi. The script takes extreme liberties with true events like Orlando and Conrad plotting Rasputin's assassination that's preceded by an extremely bizarre scene involving the latter attempting to heal Orlando's badly injured leg. Other random subplots include an incriminating sex tape involving a woman and then President Woodrow Wilson that's used as a form of blackmail. Though these switching of historical events with Shepherd's group engineering the first World War are outrageously far-fetched, it demonstrates cleverness with the film maintaining the series fun- spirit and charm yet finds itself switching over to a more serious tone when addressing war, politics, and pacifism, ultimately giving things an unbalanced feel.
The Kings Man's plot heavily centers around both legacy and family loyalty with Conrad fighting to follow in his father's footsteps in joining the organization despite the latters protectiveness which serves as the heart of the story. As fun as the movie is, it finds itself struggling with whether it wants to be more of a satirical piece or a serious drama. Just when the film begins to run-off with its gleeful tone, it switches things up with a direction that's more dramatic before reverting back. Despite this, audiences will undoubtedly get a kick out of seeing all the historical figures weaved into the films fictional story. It's not as well made as the first Kingsman nor as stylishly subversive, but it still delivers an admirable attempt at doing so while managing to be surprising on its own. Whereas most prequels end up falling short of doing their original counterparts justice, there's enough aspects of The Kings Man to make it a thoroughly enjoyable effort.
Final Verdict: Worth Watching if one enjoyed the previous Kingsman entries.
Images Courtesy Of 20th Century Studios
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