Anthony's Film Review - The King's Man (2021)

The Kingsman prequel is bloody and comical as you would expect, with historical twists...

If you've seen Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, you know the style. Those two movies are spy action movies that are like the James Bond movies, but with more bloody violence and a comical overtone. After those two, I had expected that the third Kingsman movie would be another follow-up adventure in modern times, but the filmmakers surprised me by announcing instead a prequel, The King's Man. I will say this right now. It's bloody and comical just like the two previous films. The only real difference has to do with historical twists.

Whereas Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle do a fun, excessively violent take on James Bond, The King's Man does the same kind of sendup but with early 20th-century espionage and the geopolitics of World War I. When I watched this movie, I couldn't help but notice the obvious departure from the previous two movies. But that's OK. It makes total sense, because this is about a period of time way before modern espionage, even before James Bond was created. If anything, a historical Kingsman movie adds a bit of freshness to the series. Remember, it's still bloody and comical.

The main character is Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes), the founder of the private intelligence agency that would become the Kingsman Agency. He is a widower as well as a father to Conrad (Harris Dickinson), who as a young adult wishes to serve in the British military. Orlando has two loyal assistants who do their jobs well: Polly (Gemma Arterton) and Shola (Djimon Hounsou). Orlando starts this alternative intelligence group in order to get around the bureaucracy of government-run intelligence agencies and politicians. Oh, and did I mention that this agency has a whole network of operatives doing espionage in multiple countries?

That will definitely come in handy when you have a political crisis involving the King of England, the Kaiser of Germany, and the Czar of Russia. As one flashback scene humorously shows us, those three leaders are essentially grown-up versions of boys who do not get along when playing with toy soldiers. One of the operations Orlando leads involves an attempt to assassinate Grigori Rasputin (Rhys Ifans). This sequence is notable because it definitely illustrates the style of the Kingsman movies: bloody and comical. Imagine, if you will, a fight with bladed weapons combined with Russian ballet and a classical music soundtrack. Also throw in Rasputin's weird sexual perversions, which may or may not feel too weird for this movie. (On the other hand, Kingsman: The Golden Circle does include a scene of placing a homing device in the vicinity of certain female anatomy, so perhaps you can forget about the preceding statement.)

Because this movie is also about World War I, one segment of the movie focuses on Conrad serving in the military on the front lines. Like a lot of other young idealistic men who enlist to fight for their country, Conrad is thrust into danger without delay. He starts out as a soldier firing rifles from within a trench. But then he and a few others have to quietly, under cover of darkness, sneak across the battlefield to retrieve vital intelligence from a British spy who almost successfully returns to base. This is a pretty interesting sequence because of what Conrad manages to do and the unexpected conclusion.

Ultimately, The King's Man is about two sides trying to influence war. Orlando is leading one effort to make sure England doesn't get annihilated, while a network of adversaries, of which Rasputin is one member, is trying to achieve the opposite. The movie does have a good plot. The action, occurring where it makes the most sense, keeps you on your toes. It's another one of those movies where I didn't experience a single dull moment. By the time the film reaches its climax, I found myself satisfied that they pulled off an entertaining prequel.

In fact, there is a mid-credits scene (which, honestly, I didn't see but read about later) that paves the way for a second King's Man movie. In other words, a sequel to the prequel, or a second prequel. I have no idea what will come next as the fourth movie of the series: a third contemporary Kingsman or a second historical King's Man. It ultimately doesn't matter for me. The King's Man proves that there can be bloody espionage fun in any time period. Just don't forget the trademark Kingsman tailored suits.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about The King's Man, visit the Internet Movie Database.

In addition, check out my reviews of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle.