When Kingsman: The Secret Service arrived in 2014, Matthew Vaughn had given us the key to a world we never knew we desperately needed in our lives. Based on the graphic novels by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons—which arrived in 2012—Kingsman is an autonomous secret society that enters conflicts or defuses conflicts by any means necessary. They pride themselves on being able to step in when governments can’t.
The future Elton John (in Rocketman) actor, Taron Egerton stars as our eyes and ears as a troubled young man, Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin. Colin Firth portrays Harry Hart, his mentor, a close friend of Eggsy’s father. As the aspiring international spy, Egerton is fantastic and the perfect vessel to take us into this crazy and amazing world that feels ripped from the pages of a graphic novel.
It was a huge hit. That spawned a sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle. It wasn’t quite as well-received, at least critically, but it did do one thing. It had many people wondering how this world even came to be, and what was the catalyst that established an outside the law (i.e., government) manner to deal with the world’s thugs?
That question is answered by Vaughn and his team with the prequel a hundred years in the making! The King’s Man, out now on DVD, Blu-ray, and all digital formats, takes us back to the beginning when there wasn’t even thought to be a need for such an organization. What changed? World War I.
For Ralph Fiennes’ Orlando Oxford, it probably was earlier. While serving in the British military in Africa in the last 1890s, he suffered an immeasurable loss and it defined him, even if it meant him having to walk on eggshells in the larger society. He was an official pacifist.
His son, Conrad Oxford, played by Harris Dickinson, keenly knows his father. He minds him when war breaks out, even as all his mates volunteer and are shipped to the continent. It is when someone hands him a white bird’s feather and calls him a “coward,” that the younger Oxford can’t sit on the sidelines anymore. Off he goes to battle, leaving the senior Oxford home alone on their massive estate. It is there that the seedlings of the Kingsman organization truly started to happen.
What The King’s Man does so well illustrates how things got started for World War I to even occur. There was a lot that had to go wrong. The worst people had to be in power in the right nations for it all to add up to a conflict that ensnarled the entire planet for a number of years. There are things that are adjusted slightly to fit our narrative for the film. Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria is there, and sure enough, Orlando is by his side helping with security.
Then it exploded, literally and figuratively, and as Will Ferrell said in Anchorman, “that escalated in a hurry.”
It gets the older Oxford thinking as he bathes in liquor and sadness over his boy being away at war. He realizes that at many points along the way, had somebody been able to directly intervene—the entire global conflict may have been avoided.
How things go from that realization to the establishment of The Kingsman is the crux of this surprisingly engaging film. A prequel was not something that was ever thought was something that was needed… and I’m a huge fan. Yet by the film’s conclusion, I was completely and wholeheartedly vested in the film, the characters, and this world that was such a blast being in for two hours every couple of years.
Although I enjoy every minute, even if there aren’t enough of them, this writer has complained of the lack of any real length to most of the bonus features that serve as the “making-of” doc that many of us crave after witnessing something that fascinated us. What they did with this home video release was over and above and again, there was joy in every moment.
Carve out some time and don’t miss The King’s Man: The Great Game Begins. The almost 90-minute feature is broken down into parts that will answer all your questions and fill in all those blanks. Much of the cast chimes in, as does—and brilliantly well-spoken—is Vaughn.
For many, the study of World War I is an enlightening trip. The idea of trench warfare and everything that grew exponentially out of that, in terms of the actual fighting, is one that is welcomed in exploring. The featurette No Man’s Land: Silent Knife Fight Sequence Breakdown is an over 15-minute extra that takes the viewer from rehearsal of the sure-to-be-legendary hand-to-hand combat sequence, right through to its version experienced as part of The King’s Man Blu-ray.
Lastly, again, not shying away from taking some time to well inform its fandom, Remembrance and Finding Purpose is an almost half-hour documentary short that spotlights the stunning work done by The Royal British Legion.
Film Grade: B+
Bonus Features: B