![]() So much time is spent on exposition of how this country interacts with that country and this person's relationship with that person and how it ALSO affects the war. The tone and pacing was a bit all over the place with them trying to recreate this silly, fictionalized account of WWI. Not that I would've wanted a bunch of forced wink-wink, nudge-nudge references (the codenames covered that anyway.) Not quite what I would've expected for an "origin story" of how the Kingsman agency came to be. All that said, not sure a wild action romp was really the place to deliver that message but here we are. ![]() Sometimes you just die in a stupid, pointless manner, which essentially encapsulates so much of WWI. Sometimes there is no "I am wiser now" arc because the world doesn't work that way. The character is played straight to the trope right up until, well, war is hell, and he gets shot in the face by his own side after amazing heroics. The trope is that arrogant young rich English kid insists he is prepared for war (very common in actual England at the time), goes to war, and has the realization that actually all the old people were right and war is hell and he therefore becomes a much better man for it. On the note of Conrad, I think a lot of people will dislike the character, which is fair, but I appreciate that his entire character is one giant trope destruction. A Kingsmen film set in the 1920s with more weird gadgetry that actually showed us a budding "spy agency" with similar characters would have been more enjoyable than a lot of the plot dragassery of this. Just a lot of wasted potential in the story and setting. The WWI stuff was pretty standard fare but the fight in No Man's Land was spectacular in its brutality. The Rasputin scenes were crazy and amazing and probably the most "Kingsmen" part of the entire film. A lot of weird writing choices and general tone shifts make the film hard to really enjoy, but the saving grace remains spectacular actors (Charles Dance actually making me feel something like sadness for fucking Kitchener of all people, surprised even me) and fun action sequences. Don't even get me started on quoting "Dulce et Decorum Est" with a straight face in a film series that trivialises and glamorises violence. The whole thing just seemed outrageously insensitive and tone deaf. I think it's worth mentioning that 135,000 Scots died fighting for Britain in WW1- a disproportionately high number compared to the rest of the UK. Sure, Ralph Fiennes murdered a bunch of Africans in a British colony, but he looked sad about it in the mirror, so it's ok! Meanwhile, as Scots are shit on to an almost comical degree, the English are treated with propaganda-level kid gloves. The evil Scottish bad guy isn't even played by a fucking Scot, his shite hammy accent comes from an English actor.Literally all of WW1 is blamed on a Scottish nationalist.A Scottish Black Watch member then kills the heroic posh English kid friendly fire, in a stereotypically short-tempered fit of anger. ![]() The posh English kid is then the only member of the (notoriously hardcore Black Watch) regiment to volunteer for a dangerous job. ![]()
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