Kingsman: THE SECRET SERVICE

20th Century Fox

Rated R

Running Time: 129 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Kingsman: THE SECRET SERVICE on YouTube.

   

In Twentieth Century Fox's Kingsman: The Secret Service, a smart orphaned street punk Taron Egerton is recruited by tailor Colin Firth/Galahad to join an independent international intelligence agency to stop megalomaniac Samuel L. Jackson from committing genocide.

Based on the comic book, The Secret Service by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar, and Directed by Matthew Vaughn, Kingsman: The Secret Service is basically classic James Bond movies meets the British agents from The Avengers as well as a mix of Men in Black, without the aliens, and My Fair Lady, as the movie follows the recruitment and training of potential secret agent Egerton in which Firth/Galahad sponsors Egerton to compete with other various young potential agents for the Kingsmen, which includes candidate Sophie Cookson, and trained by Mark Strong/Merlin to become the next Lancelot agent. The Kingsmen are modern day Knights of the Round Table from Arthurian legends, with leader Michael Caine as Arthur. This is an over-the-top comic book spy film - which is similar in plot to Tom Clancy's novel Rainbow Six - and is a proposed origin film for a new proposed film series. The graphic violence in the movie is lessened by the comic depiction of the violence, but is still rather graphic.

It seems funny to me, but rather more appropriate to me that Egerton's training from Strong/Merlin did not relate to Egerton's final fight scenes in the movie, despite their relationship - but rather it was Egerton's training from Firth/Galahad which trained him for Egerton's final fight scenes. I wanted to see more of a relationship between Egerton and his dog J.B. which added some comedy relief. Actually, I wanted to see more scenes with the trainees and their dogs. I believe the dogs should have been a major part of their training.

I liked the fact that Kingsman has a world-wide scope, like a true James Bond film dealing with various countries and heads of state, including heads of state Hanna Alstrom and Bjorn Floberg. Having Colin Firth doing 80% of his own stunts made his performance even more believable. I also liked the fact that the Kingmen are gentlemen, with A Gentlemen's Guide for a strict code of conduct since "Manners Maketh Man," This Gentlemen's code of conduct is a major aspect of Firth/Galahad's relationship with Egerton. I also liked the fact that the Kingsmen have a stylish line of tailor's clothes in conjunction with men's style retailer Mr. Porter. The collaborations between luxury retailer Mr. Porter and various heritage brands is the first of its kind to make Kingsman: The Secret Service the first film with outfits from the movie available for the moviegoers to buy.

I was not crazy about Jackson's lisp in the movie, until I found out that his lisp represents a typical "dysfunction" of some form of a James Bond villain and is reminiscent of Jackson's own lisp when he was younger that he had overcome. It is quite ironic that Jackson's character is named Valentine and that the movie was released on Valentine's Day weekend. In a cameo role - based on a combinations of characters from the comic book, including himself - having Mark Hamil using his Joker voice was a little distracting to me considering his character as I wanted to hear his normal voice, but it is cleverly ironic that Hamil is in the movie after being in the original comic book.

It was funny to me that at the end of the movie, while I was leaving, a lady was telling the usher who was cleaning up, "That was a great movie, except for the end. That was so strange." I thought the ending was totally appropriate for a classic James Bond takeoff.

Rated R for graphic violence, language, nudity.

Pancho
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NIGHT OF THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB

20th Century Fox 

Rated: PG

Running time: 98 Minutes

Click below to watch the movie trailer of Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb on YouTube.

 

In Twentieth Century Fox's Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, the living museum exhibits of the New York City of the American Museum of Natural History are acting strangely and Ben Stiller must go to London to the British Museum where the other half of the exhibits are in order to fix the magical tablet that makes them come alive - before Stiller's museum friends become wax exhibits forever.

The final installment of the Night of the Museum trilogy, Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is basically Night of the Museum set in London as the other exhibits, returning characters Teddy Roosevelt/Robin Williams, Jedediah/Owen Wilson, Octavius/Steve Coogan, Ahkmenrah/Rami Malek, Attila the Hun/Patrick Gallagher, Sacajawea/Mizuo Peck, and Dexter/Crystal the Monkey follow Stiller to London. The movie goes more into the history of the magical tablet. Given that, the only real British aspect of the movie is Sir Lancelot/Dan Stevens, as well as Rebel Wilson's Australian accent. I would have loved to have Stiller and his son learn more about London and the British Museum in this movie. The movie is also the shortest of the Museum trilogy, so that also makes the movie feel not as satisfying. My favorite scenes are of Neanderthal Stiller and Rebel Wilson. The juxtaposition between Neanderthal Stiller and Stiller's music DJ son Skyler Gisondo is interesting as is Stiller's relationship to both of them.

The uncredited cameos with Hugh Jackman and Alice Eve were cute. It is ironic that Jackman made his acting debut as King Arthur in a production of Camelot as a child. I liked the fact that the uncredited Alice Eve portrayed herself along with Jackman playing himself.

It was nice to have Dick Van Dyke, Bill Cobbs, and Mickey Rooney reprise their original roles.

At the end of the film there is a dedication to Robin Williams and Mickey Rooney. The scenes with Williams and Rooney are heartbreaking when you think about them, with this being Williams final onscreen role.

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 98 minutes.

Pancho
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TAKEN 3

20th Century Fox

Rated: PG-13

Running time: 109 Minutes

Click below to watch the movie trailer of Taken 3.



In Twentieth Century Fox's Taken 3, Liam Neeson is wrongly accused of a horrible crime and is on the run from LAPD inspector Forrest Whitaker and the Los Angeles Police Department.

In the third and final film in the Taken series, and Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace return as Neeson gets a text to meet with his ex-wife Janssen when he discovers something horrible. Immediately the Los Angeles Police Department arrive to arrest him for a crime he did not commit. Neeson escapes and looks for the person who framed him while trying to protect his pregnant daughter Grace from suffering the same fate.

While I have always like Liam Neeson, this movie felt like a poor man's John Wick, although Neeson did do all of his own fighting sequences for the film.

Being a Trojan, I liked the fact that they used aerial footage of USC, and several extras were listed as USC students during Grace's university scenes.

Forrest Whitaker was pretty much wasted in this movie. I really had wanted him to play more of an obsessed detective in getting Neeson in this movie as the movie trailers seem to portray. Having Neeson and Whitaker matching wits in their various obsessions, with the police caught in the middle would have been great to see. I really wanted to see more of the police coordinating with each other a lot more in order to get Neeson rather than what was shown in the movie.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Taken 3.



Rated PG-13 for violence and language. Running time: 109 Minutes.

Pancho
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