---
title: "Kingsman: The Secret Service"
year: 2015
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/kingsman-the-secret-service"
fi1m_id: "kingsman-the-secret-service"
imdb_id: "tt2802144"
tmdb_id: 207703
wikidata_id: "Q15068238"
fi1m_score: 66
critics_score: 63
critics_reviews: 27
published: "2026-10-05T13:46:17.479059+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-05T13:46:17.945317+00:00"
region: "ZA"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

Directed by Matthew Vaughn · 2h 09m · FPB 16 · Crime, Comedy, Action

## Identity

Kingsman: The Secret Service

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/kingsman-the-secret-service
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** kingsman-the-secret-service
- **IMDb ID:** tt2802144
- **TMDB ID:** 207703
- **Wikidata ID:** Q15068238
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802144/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/207703, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15068238

**Fi1m score: 66** · Critics 63 from 27 reviews

*In a sentence:* Colin Firth clears a pub without creasing his suit, and the film spends two hours trying to top it

> Matthew Vaughn’s spy comedy is faster, funnier and more violent than the Bond films it ribs, and Colin Firth in a bespoke suit is a pleasure. It is also crude when it means to be cheeky, and the finale mistakes a bloodbath for a punchline.

## Synopsis

A Savile Row tailor’s shop is the front for Kingsman, a private intelligence service whose agents take their names from the Round Table. Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin (Taron Egerton), a south London teenager who has dropped out of the Marines and lives with his mother Michelle (Samantha Womack) and her thuggish boyfriend, steals a car, is arrested and rings a number on a medal his dead father left him. The call brings Harry Hart (Colin Firth), codename Galahad, who clears a pub of hard men with an umbrella and puts Eggsy forward for the Kingsman selection run by Merlin (Mark Strong), alongside Roxy (Sophie Cookson) and the sneering Charlie (Edward Holcroft). Meanwhile the tech billionaire Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) is giving away free SIM cards worldwide, has kidnapped Professor Arnold (Mark Hamill), and keeps a bodyguard, Gazelle (Sofia Boutella), who runs on blades.

## Review

Matthew Vaughn has made a Bond film for people who loved them as boys and now think they have become too polite. Writing again with Jane Goldman, he puts a spy service behind a tailor’s shop on Savile Row, gives its best agent to Colin Firth and sends him to recruit a boy from a south London estate. Then he turns the violence up past the point where it is funny and leaves it there. The result is 129 minutes of considerable fun with a sour aftertaste, and we are still arguing with it.

Firth is the reason to see it. Harry Hart walks into a pub, locks the door and puts six men on the floor with an umbrella, and Firth plays it as if settling a small bill: no grimace, no quip until the work is done, hair back in place. He has spent twenty-five years being asked to be decent on screen, and the pleasure here is watching that decency hold while the body count rises. Taron Egerton, as Eggsy, is a proper find, quick and unselfconscious, and the scenes in which Harry teaches him to stand, drink and dress are the warmest in the film. Mark Strong’s Merlin runs the training with a clipboard and a Scottish burr and gets the best dry lines.

The craft is sharp. George Richmond shoots the fights in long, swooping takes that stay close to the bodies, so when a brawl runs the length of a room we can see where every blow lands. Eddie Hamilton and Jon Harris cut to the music rather than against it, and there is a sequence in a church, set to a single guitar riff, that is the most precisely staged violence Vaughn has put on screen, the camera moving as if it were one of the combatants. Paul Kirby gives Kingsman green leather and mahogany and gives Valentine white curves like a phone shop. Arianne Phillips’s suits carry the film’s argument on their own: a double-breasted pinstripe is the shape Eggsy is being asked to grow into. Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson supply brass and a wink at the Bond themes of the sixties.

That church sequence is also where the film caught us out. We laughed at the first few seconds because the choreography was so clever, and we were still laughing a minute in, and then we noticed what we were laughing at and stopped, and felt slightly ill. We are fairly sure Vaughn wanted the laugh and had not planned for the stop. The film treats a massacre as a dance number, and it is a good dance number, and that is the problem.

Samuel L. Jackson plays Valentine with a lisp and a baseball cap and a horror of blood, which is funny for one scene and then is simply what he does. Sofia Boutella’s Gazelle is the best henchwoman in years, and the film knows it, giving her the one fight that is frightening rather than exhilarating. Michael Caine sits in a club chair as Arthur and disapproves. Sophie Cookson’s Roxy is the only recruit who can keep up with Eggsy, and the script is more interested in him.

The last half hour is where it comes apart. Vaughn and Goldman spend the film sneering at the rich and the powerful while filming their tailoring with love, and they never settle which of those they mean. The big finish depends on a great many people dying in a decorative way, and a final gag involving Hanna Alström’s Princess Tilde is a leer dressed as a joke. It is the kind of thing a film puts in to prove it is not afraid of anything, and it proves the opposite.

[*Kick-Ass*](https://film.one/film/kick-ass) (2010) pulled off this trick with a schoolboy and a foul-mouthed child, and the shock there was the point. *Layer Cake* (2004) showed Vaughn could be lean. This one has the pub, Firth, Egerton and about forty minutes of the best-cut action in a British film for some time, and it has a finale we would rather not have seen. See it with people who will laugh, and do not pretend afterwards that you did not. It carries a 15, and earns it.

*Fi1m score 66, published 5 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics come away entertained. The reviews describe a loud, irreverent revival of the gentleman-spy film, and the praise gathers around Colin Firth, who is named again and again for a dry, poised performance that carries the action as comfortably as the tailoring. Matthew Vaughn’s set pieces draw the next most comment, the church sequence in particular, and several reviews single out Taron Egerton as a convincing new lead with easy chemistry opposite Firth.

The spread is wide, from near-raves to one-star dismissals. The reservations cluster in three places: a final third that several critics find choppy or sluggish, violence that tips from playful to numbing, and a politics some find smug and a closing gag many find tasteless. The Guardian finds it charmless and stuck in a lad-mag past, while Slant Magazine calls it crass and low-stakes. Even the admirers tend to concede it misfires; they simply enjoy it anyway.

## Straight answers

**Is Kingsman: The Secret Service worth watching?**

*Kingsman: The Secret Service* is worth watching for anyone who wants a faster, ruder Bond film and can stomach a finale that mistakes a bloodbath for a punchline; we scored it 66. Colin Firth clearing a pub with an umbrella and Taron Egerton's quick, unselfconscious Eggsy are the pleasures. The last half hour, and one leering final gag, are where it comes apart.

**How long is Kingsman: The Secret Service, and what is it rated?**

*Kingsman: The Secret Service* runs 2h 09m and is rated 16 by the FPB in South Africa. It is a crime and comedy film.

**Where can I watch Kingsman: The Secret Service in South Africa?**

*Kingsman: The Secret Service* is available to rent from Apple TV from R34.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Kingsman: The Secret Service, and is it suitable for children?**

*Kingsman: The Secret Service* carries a UK 15 certificate and earns it: the violence is frequent, bloody and staged as entertainment, including a church massacre cut to a guitar riff that we laughed at and then felt slightly ill about. It is not frightening so much as gleeful, and the humour is often crude. Not for children, and the squeamish should stay away.

**How does Kingsman: The Secret Service compare to Kick-Ass?**

*Kingsman: The Secret Service* and [*Kick-Ass*](https://film.one/film/kick-ass) are Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman attempting the same joke, and the earlier film does it better, because its shock is the point rather than a habit. *Kingsman* has the sharper spy plot, Colin Firth and some of the best-cut action in a British film for some time. *Kick-Ass* is the fresher and more defensible of the two.

**What should I watch after Kingsman: The Secret Service?**

After *Kingsman: The Secret Service*, try [*Kick-Ass*](https://film.one/film/kick-ass) (2010, Fi1m 74): Vaughn and Goldman’s earlier go at the same joke, with the shock still fresh. Then [*The Man from U.N.C.L.E.*](https://film.one/film/the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e) (2015, Fi1m 64): Guy Ritchie’s sixties spy caper: better tailoring, far fewer corpses; and [*OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies*](https://film.one/film/oss-117-cairo-nest-of-spies) (2006, Fi1m 76): France sends up its own Bond, and the idiot hero is the joke.

### Reviews we read (27)

- **Evening Standard**, David Sexton (85/100, inferred): Sexton finds the film hugely enjoyable, praising its stylish, outrageous take on the gentlemanly spy tradition. He singles out Colin Firth’s performance as one of his best roles in years. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/kingsman-the-secret-service-film-review-colin-firth-shines-in-one-of-his-best-roles-for-years-9979267.html)
- **Radio Times**, Jeremy Aspinall (4/5): The critic calls it a vibrant, irreverent spy caper that revives the gentleman-spy tradition with gusto. Colin Firth’s pithy performance is singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-g1gm8z/kingsman-the-secret-service/)
- **Total Film**, James Mottram (4/5): Mottram finds the film a lively, entertaining return to playful spy adventures, though it loses some momentum in its final third. He especially praises Colin Firth’s action performance and the film’s irreverent energy. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/kingsman-secret-service-review/)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (80/100, inferred): The critic finds Kingsman entertaining and gleefully depraved, despite its increasingly brutal violence. He praises Matthew Vaughn’s elaborately choreographed action and the film’s ability to make its cartoonish characters matter. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2015/02/movie-review-kingsman-the-secret-service.html)
- **Empire**, Chris Hewitt (78/100, inferred): Hewitt finds the film uneven but ultimately an exuberant, envelope-pushing blast of spy-movie fun. He especially praises its audacious, ultra-violent action and the lively chemistry between Colin Firth and Taron Egerton. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/kingsman-secret-service-review/)
- **Variety**, Peter Debruge (75/100, inferred): Debruge finds the film a playful, irreverent and stylish revival of the British spy formula, with a promising new star. He praises its inventive action and comic flair, while noting that its glossy materialism sits uneasily beside its critique of extreme wealth. [Read](https://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/film-review-kingsman-the-secret-service-1201388064/)
- **The AV Club**, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky (B-): The review calls the film slick, entertaining fun but criticizes its reactionary worldview and ideological vapidity. It praises Vaughn’s visual design and effects, especially the violent fight scenes. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/kingsman-is-a-slick-gory-spy-pastiche-just-don-t-think-1798182710)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Sheri Linden (70/100, inferred): The critic finds it a smart, energetic spy adventure that loses momentum toward the end. She praises Colin Firth’s stylish, witty performance and the film’s lively action, while faulting its increasingly choppy finale and an out-of-place crude joke. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/kingsman-secret-service-film-review-758706/)
- **Screen Daily**, Mark Adams (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as a review, but the paywall prevents access to the critic’s verdict. The available text does not reveal what the critic praised or criticized. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/kingsman-the-secret-service/5081698.article)
- **Little White Lies**, Adam Woodward (3/3/4): Woodward finds the film deliriously entertaining but wildly misfiring, with its postmodern thrills sometimes leaning too heavily on familiar motifs. He praises the technically impressive action set pieces, especially the underwater training sequence. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/kingsman-secret-service)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Betsy Sharkey (60/100, inferred): Sharkey finds the film entertaining but overlong and excessively vigorous, with a script that does not always land. She especially praises Colin Firth’s engaging performance and the exceptionally well-staged, easy-to-follow action. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-kingsman-review-20150213-column.html)
- **Film Comment**, Michael Sragow (50/100, inferred): Sragow’s framing suggests a cheeky departure from gentlemanly spy conventions, though the available excerpt does not reveal his overall verdict. It singles out the film’s refusal to take a gentlemanly tack. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/deep-focus-kingsman-the-secret-service/)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (40/100, inferred): Lane finds the film’s inventive, over-the-top Bond parody entertaining but undermined by mean political posturing and crude stereotypes. He singles out Colin Firth’s gently amused performance as the film’s saving grace. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/16/society-men)
- **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (2/5): Huddleston gives the film two stars, indicating a negative verdict. The visible description notes that Bond pastiche is hardly new; the rest of his assessment is unavailable. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/kingsman-the-secret-service)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (30/100, inferred): Bradshaw finds the film charmless and dated, unable to enjoy its smug spy spoof. He criticizes its constant insistence on its own supposed style and its throwback lad-mag sensibility. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/29/kingsman-the-secret-service-review)
- **Slant Magazine**, Chris Cabin (1/4): Cabin strongly condemns the film as crass, politically tone-deaf, and built around safe, low-stakes storytelling. He singles out its tasteless closing gag and finds the dark comedy undermines the action. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/kingsman-the-secret-service/)
- **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (90/100, inferred): Hammond finds the film enormously fun and action-packed, saying Vaughn delivers without letting it lag. He singles out the lively script and the cast, especially Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson, for praise. [Read](https://deadline.com/2015/02/kingsman-the-secret-service-review-colin-firth-samuel-l-jackson-video-1201373377/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Stefan Pape (90/100, inferred): The critic finds the film immensely entertaining and refreshingly committed to frivolity. He praises Taron Egerton’s star turn, matched by Sophie Cookson’s performance. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/kingsman-the-secret-service-review/)
- **Digital Spy**, Ben Rawson-Jones (85/100, inferred): The critic calls it an exhilarating, fun spy adventure with a gloriously British heart, despite a few misfires. They single out the compelling pairing of Colin Firth and Taron Egerton, especially Egerton’s convincing transformation. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a624124/kingsman-the-secret-service-review-heaven-is-a-place-on-firth/)
- **Den of Geek**, Don Kaye (4/5): Kaye finds the film hugely entertaining, confident, and fun, despite a sluggish middle stretch. He particularly praises Colin Firth’s poised, energetic performance and the church action sequence. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/books/kingsman-the-secret-service-review/)
- **NME** (80/100, inferred): The review finds the film witty and entertaining, with a serious message beneath its cheeky spy-action style. It praises the inventive action sequences and the gasp-inducing finale. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-various-artists-15907-319194)
- **Paste**, Andy Crump (80/100, inferred): Crump finds the film an exuberant, entertaining antidote to restrained spy movies, despite some pacing problems. He especially praises the performances, singling out Colin Firth and Taron Egerton’s chemistry and the film’s confidently over-the-top action. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/kingsman-the-secret-service-1)
- **The Wrap** (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a clever, stylish, highly enjoyable action comedy, though its sexism detracts from the fun. They praise its precise visual style, engaging action, and Colin Firth’s performance. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/kingsman-the-secret-service-review-colin-firth-samuel-l-jackson-michael-caine/)
- **The Playlist** (65/100, inferred): The URL identifies this as a review of the specified film. The anti-crawler page provides no critic verdict or details to summarize. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-matthew-vaughns-kingsman-the-secret-service-starring-colin-firth-taron-egerton-and-samuel-l-jackson-20150211/)
- **Consequence**, Justin Gerber (35/100, inferred): The critic finds the film frustrating, with inspired moments undermined by forced excess and uneven performances. He singles out Colin Firth’s charming performance and Vaughn’s inventive action sequences for praise. [Read](https://consequence.net/2015/02/film-review-kingsman-the-secret-service/)
- **Eye for Film**, Angus Wolfe Murray (35/100, inferred): The review is largely critical, finding the shift from spy spoof to extreme violence faulty. It singles out Sofia Boutella’s razor-footed henchwoman as one of the film’s few points in its favour. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/kingsman-the-secret-service-2014-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray)
- **The Skinny**, Josh Slater-Williams (1/5): The critic finds the film an overlong, unfunny slog and a weak, vulgar Bond tribute. They praise flashes of charisma from Taron Egerton and Mark Strong, but fault the chaotic action and poor visual effects. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/kingsman-the-secret-service)

## Details

- **Director:** Matthew Vaughn
- **Director:** Matthew Vaughn
- **Writer:** Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn
- **Cinematography:** George Richmond
- **Editor:** Eddie Hamilton, Jon Harris
- **Music:** Matthew Margeson, Henry Jackman
- **Production design:** Paul Kirby
- **Costume design:** Arianne Phillips
- **Producer:** Adam Bohling, David Reid, Matthew Vaughn
- **Cast:** Taron Egerton as Gary 'Eggsy' Unwin; Colin Firth as Harry Hart / Galahad; Samuel L. Jackson as Valentine; Mark Strong as Merlin; Sophie Cookson as Roxy; Sofia Boutella as Gazelle; Michael Caine as Arthur; Edward Holcroft as Charlie
- **Runtime:** 2h 09m
- **Certificate (FPB):** 16
- **Release (South Africa):** 13 February 2015
- **Genres:** Crime, Comedy, Action
- **Budget:** $81 million
- **Box office:** $414 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th_KrhqmHk8

## Where to watch in South Africa

- Apple TV: rent R34.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy R99.99, hd

*Checked 2026-10-05.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Ipcress File* (1965): The gentleman spy in glasses, before anyone thought he needed an umbrella.
- *Kick-Ass* (2010), Fi1m 74: Vaughn and Goldman’s earlier go at the same joke, with the shock still fresh. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/kick-ass.md)
- *The Man from U.N.C.L.E.* (2015), Fi1m 64: Guy Ritchie’s sixties spy caper: better tailoring, far fewer corpses. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e.md)
- *OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies* (2006), Fi1m 76: France sends up its own Bond, and the idiot hero is the joke. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/oss-117-cairo-nest-of-spies.md)
- *Hot Fuzz* (2007), Fi1m 84: British politeness meets American carnage, and the carnage knows it is funny. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/hot-fuzz.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/kingsman-the-secret-service