A member of the Film Critic’s Circle, he’s covered technology and culture over the past 15 years from London’s tech scene to Europe’s refugee camps to the Sundance film festival
Ralph Fiennes and Gemma Arterton battle Rasputin in the new Kingsman movie, streaming on Hulu in the US and Disney Plus elsewhere.
You know what history lessons need? More fights. The King’s Man is a loud, lewd and demented romp through the politics and tragedy of the past, a blackly comic and often deranged roller coaster of stylized action spectacle decked out in a range of outrageous mustaches.
Originally released in December up against Spider-Man: No Way Home , The Matrix Resurrections and the omicron variant, The King’s Man struggled at the box office despite being the latest in a series whose previous outings proved unexpected hits. Now it’s streaming services Hulu in the US and Disney Plus in the UK, perhaps it’ll find an audience in the mood for wry humor, stylish fights and generally outrageous action.
The Kingsman flicks follow a suite of suave spies operating out of a discreet tailor’s shop in London, armed with impeccable suits, gadgets that would make James Bond blush and a gleefully irreverent twist on the espionage genre. Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson and newcomer Taron Egerton also starred in a flick that was enough of a hit to spawn a sequel, 2017’s The Golden Circle , starring Julianne Moore, Channing Tatum and Elton John.
Now Vaughan brings the formula of black comedy, genre-twisting self-awareness and hyperstylized action sequences to a prequel exploring how the Kingsman agency came into being during the dark days of World War Iparable to the supercharged Sherlock Holmes films directed by Matthew Vaughan’s old mucker Guy Ritchie, it’s like Brideshead Revisited meets John Wick. Continue reading ‘The King’s Man’ Review: Hulu’s Demented Spy Prequel Kicks History in the Face