By Nathan Brown

   Undoubtedly, everyone has seen at least one of the James Bond 007 spy movies. The franchise started back in 1962 and released its 24th film in 2015, making it one of the longest running film series of all time. Having been such a pop culture phenomenon for so long, it’s widely thought of as the only good, mainstream spy movie franchise. However in 2014, the world was introduced to Kingsman: The Secret Service from director Matthew Vaughn. This film flew under the radar of most moviegoers, as evident by the Worldwide box office grossing. By the end of its theatrical run, Kingsman grossed $414,351,546 on an $81 million budget. Based on a graphic novel of the same name written by Mark Miller and Dave Gibbons, The Secret Service is both a critique, and a love letter to the classic 007 films.

   Kingsman: The Secret Service tells the story of Gary “Eggsy” Unwin, a young man living in England, whose father died when he was younger. As a result of this, his mother begins dating an older man named Dean who constantly abuses both her and Eggsy. To get back at him, Eggsy steals Dean’s friend’s car and proceeds to drive recklessly around the city with it, eventually getting involved in a high speed chase with the police. The police catch him and promptly arrest him. Eggsy, believing all hope for him is lost, remembers a necklace he was given when his father died. He was told to call this number on the back if he ever needed help. Eggsy promptly dialed the number and was released from jail. On his way out, a man named Harry Hart approaches him and reveals that he’s the one that got Eggsy out of jail. Harry then reveals that Eggsy would be a perfect candidate for the Kingsmen, a secret spy organization based out of a tailor shop in London. Eggsy, having prior experience in the marines, joins the Kingsmen in order to help his mother get away from Dean and better living conditions for her. As Eggsy gets acquainted with the Kingsmen, an evil billionaire named Richmond Valentine begins the first steps in his master plan to separate the rich and powerful from the rest of the world. It’s up to Eggsy and the rest of the Kingsmen to put a stop to Valentine's evil plan.

   Until the release of Kingsman, Director Matthew Vaughn was relatively unknown. Vaughn’s previous noteworthy films includes Kick Ass and X-Men: First Class, the former being a relative sleeper hit, only making $96 million worldwide. Kingsmen propelled Vaughn into fame and allowed him turn Kingsman into a franchise, having released Kingsman: The Golden Circle in September of 2017. The Secret Service takes classic spy tropes and satirizes them while simultaneously pay homage to what inspired it. The film also features a noteworthy cameo from actor Mark Hamill, who famously played Luke Skywalker and the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series. Overall, The Secret Service was hands down a success for both and 20th Century Fox, propelling a new successful franchise for the studio.

   In conclusion, Kingsman: The Secret Service is a phenomenal love letter to the spy tropes of old, while providing a modern update of those same tropes for modern audiences. Kingsman: The Secret Service is absolutely recommended to anyone who loves a good action movie, as well as anyone who just wants to have fun with an outrageous, laugh out loud good time.