Matthew Vaughn’s third entry in the Kingsman series is an ambitious and joyously silly work of historical fiction. Serving as a prequel to the first two films, The King’s Man pits Ralph Fiennes and his cohort of fledgling spies against the horrific backdrop of World War One. With a script that doesn’t relent in either it’s clever maneuvering or it’s witty dialogue, Vaughn has delivered a supremely enjoyable spectacle of an action film that only feels laborious in fleeting moments throughout it’s 130 minute runtime.
After a prologue which establishes the protagonist’s preference for pacifism over violence, the action takes off just before the outset of WWI. Orlando, the Duke of Oxford, is doing his best to steer his son, Conrad, away from the dangers of the changing political landscape across Europe. Eventually, Orlando relents and involves the boy in his attempt to intervene indirectly with the war. Travelling to Russia to neutralise Grigori Rasputin, who is using blackmail through his manipulation of the Romanov’s spiritual predilection, the mission only serves to further embolden Conrad, setting him and his father on a course to be more directly involved than either had intended. From here the film becomes a riveting saga of battlefield heroics and espionage, with an extensive cabal of provocateurs opposing the spy network from the shadows.
Vaughn is a filmmaker with more than just a taste for bombastic flair and heightened action sequences. Within his spate of films as a writer-director, he has essentially crafted his own visual aesthetic which makes itself felt not just through the dynamic shooting of his fight choreography, but also at the level of editing and structure as a whole. The King’s Man feels like the work of a confident and well organised auteur having the time of his life. Vaughn stages action sequences that continue to dazzle and surprise throughout the film, although one or two may be overlong or somewhat unnecessary. This minor fault is excusable in his latest offering, for the sheer and exuberant ridiculousness of the proceedings.
Though this alternate history of The Great War will not be to everyone’s liking, the strength of the film relies on it’s self awareness and structure within the script. Vaughn and Karl Gajdusek’s writing plays up the more overtly strange characteristics of certain historical personages, and also uses the classic spy trope of a dastardly but unseen major villain to great effect. The film is always verging on camp gone too far, but the performances by Fiennes, Djimon Hounsou, Rhys Ifans and Gemma Arterton each compliment the intended tone, while also bringing it back to a grounded reality often enough that the silliness doesn’t become overbearing. It’s a given in a film like this that one must surrender certain aspects of reality and suspend disbelief, but if you’re willing to go along with it, The King’s Man is exceptionally good fun.
Whether the series has enough life and ingenuity to sustain another outing as good as this one remains to be seen. What is apparent from this film, however, is that Vaughn has certainly come into his own as a director who can not only provide thrills in action set pieces, but that he’s also capable of rewriting and subverting elements of history in a way that is both entertaining and grandiose. An improvement upon the second film and on par with the first, The King’s Man provides Summer blockbuster fun in a way that most others simply fail to do.
4.5/5
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