The King’s Man
A somewhat disappointing entry into the franchise, The King’s Man squanders a beautiful middle act to deliver a derivative ending.
Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) is British nobility. After losing his wife in Africa, he has sworn off violence for both him and his son, Conrad (Harris Dickinson); despite the encroaching advent of the first world war. Conrad is hellbent on signing up and doing his bit for his country, but Orlando refuses to let him do so, even enlisting the help of General Kitchener (Charles Dance) to stop him. Orlando’s anti-violence attitude is tested, however, when he discovers that a secret cabal of nefarious influentials is plotting to throw the world into chaos, forcing Germany, Russia and England into a war. Orlando travels to Russia, and brings Conrad with him, to take down Grigori Rasputin (Rhys Ifans) in an effort to keep Russia’s aid with England. But while Orlando thinks this will placate him, Conrad still wants to sign up, and finds a way around his father’s wishes and to the front line. Now, with Conrad in immediate danger, Orlando and his trusty sidekicks Polly (Gemma Arterton) and Shola (Djimon Honsou), have to find a way to destroy the cabal and stop the war.
The King’s Man is once again directed by Matthew Vaughn, and there’s a lot to like here if you were a fan of the first two installments in this trilogy. The action is the exact sort of highly stylised, slow motion takes much like the others. Then there’s the costuming and class of the piece, which again is on point; although this time with everyone dressed in period and with the fancy cabins of planes swapped for gorgeous train interiors and palaces.
Another impressive part of the film is the middle third, which has a massive twist in it. It brings a beautiful moment of shock and complexity to the piece. The quality of the cast, and in particular both Dickinson and Fiennes, brings a fantastic quality to the twist. It’s difficult to describe just how fresh and new the film feels at that point, and indeed how exciting it is to experience.
Oddly enough, however, this almost feels like the achilles heel of the film. The movie has a relatively standard first act, couched in quite a nicely choreographed fight between Oxford and Rasputin. The second act then ups the ante and feels fresh and new. But Vaughn loses the track after that. He squanders the opportunities presented by so great a twist, and instead wrenches the lumbering behemoth ship of this movie back onto the most well trodden tracks possible.
It would have been better to not have the twist, and instead present a film like the second Kingsman installment that did little new or fresh and barely left a recognisable mark. Instead, we’ve been given a taste of something better; a taste even of the brilliance of the first film in this franchise. Then to have it snatched away for a CGI heavy finale, with the worst reveal of the year so far, leaves a very sore taste in the mouth.
Nevertheless, there is a lot of fun in this movie, and some great action scenes; in particular a silent knife fight in the middle of No Man’s Land. Once you get past the crushing disappointment of such a wasted moment, you’ll probably recollect that this film has some highlights. It just doesn’t hold a candle to the original.
