7.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.2 |
A spy organization recruits a promising street kid into the agency's training program, while a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.
Starring: Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, Taron Egerton, Sophie CooksonAction | 100% |
Adventure | 84% |
Comic book | 55% |
Thriller | 10% |
Coming of age | 7% |
Comedy | 2% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Russian: DTS 5.1
Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1
Ukrainian: Dolby Digital 5.1
All Dolby Digital mixes are 448 kbps; Russian DTS 5.1 is 768 kbps; Source: BDinfo scan
English SDH, Portuguese, Spanish, Cantonese, Estonian, Indonesian, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Mandarin (Traditional), Russian, Thai, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
It didn’t take long for the James Bond phenomenon to become an outright craze after the release of Dr. No in 1962 and then (especially) Goldfinger in 1964. Suddenly the media waters were full of properties which were at least tangentially similar to the world of Ian Fleming, featuring top secret espionage agents plying their craft in various exotic locales. Some, like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, were fairly “drab” when compared to Fleming’s more florid formulations, while some small screen efforts like Get Smart played things resolutely for laughs. Perhaps because Kingsman: The Secret Service tends to tread a kind of middle ground between homage and parody, it takes a while to find its tonal center, veering rather wildly in its early going between exciting if somewhat rote action sequences and more sly, winking references to spies who have gone before. Based on a graphic novel series (entitled merely The Secret Service) by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, Kingsman: The Secret Service is something of a scavenger hunt of references for those who either grew up with iconic spies like James Bond or Napoleon Solo, or who came to love them later on either home video or television rebroadcasts. Perhaps because the film begins with a rather disturbing sequence involving a black ops mission gone awry in the Middle East in 1997, one that is played straight and with no winking subtext, Kingsman: The Secret Service’s more whimsical tendencies take a while to achieve their foothold.
Kingsman: The Secret Service is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists a variety of digital cameras that were utilized to film Kingsman, but the result is a largely homogenous and often stunningly sharp and precise looking image. While the opening Middle Eastern segment is bathed in a kind of dusky rose-yellow hue, not much of the rest of the film is that aggressively color graded (somewhat surprisingly), with the result being an abundance of exceptional fine detail and a natural and nicely suffused looking palette. Occasionally Vaughn and cinematographer George Richmond play with contrast boosting or other elements like pushed highlights, leading to minimal problems with blooming in the lightest gradients. CGI and general SFX are a bit variable, with some sequences (notably the long skydiving sequence or Roxy's later balloon trip into outer space) looking nicely sharp, but other elements (like the fanciful series of exploding heads which occurs at one point) having a fairly soft and pasty appearance. Notably there are no issues with the resolution of natty patterns like the herringbone suits some of the spies wear.
From the first gnarly guitar chords of "Money for Nothing," and with Sting's resplendent "I want my MTV" wafting through the surrounds, Kingsman: The Secret Service's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track announces it's out for fun, something it delivers in droves for the bulk of the rest of the film's running time. With cool, rumbly tumbly lower frequencies accompanying the literal rollout of the credits, and into the first manic action sequence of the film proper, the soundtrack is awash in nicely placed effects, from the roar of a stolen sportscar to the "thwack" of a high tech bumbershoot being opened as a shield. Dialogue is cleanly presented and is well prioritized, even in some of the most frenetic sequences. I personally found some of the score by Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson to be less than helpful (especially in some of the early cues, which just kind of well up out of nowhere and then just as quickly recede), but the score is very well rendered and offers a sonic bed which spreads quite forcefully at times through the side and rear channels. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range extremely wide on this problem free track.
- Panel to Screen: The Education of a 21st Century Super-Spy
- Heroes and Rogues
- Style All His Own
- Tools of the Trade
- Breathtakingly Brutal
- Culture Clash: The Comic Book Origins of The Secret Service
- Behind the Scenes (1080p; 4:18)
- Sets (1080p; 2:03)
- Props (1080p; 3:18)
Kingsman: The Secret Service takes a while to fully reveal it's in the slightly wry camp, and that means that some viewers may be initially confused by what seems to be a more straightforward spy yarn. Those with a good eye for references to other iconic espionage franchises (on both the large and small screens) will have a field day as Kingsman picks up steam and moves toward a calamitous and more or less absurd climax. (The film certainly wins bonus points for the most unorthodox use of Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance".) Firth, probably not the first person you'd think of as an "action star," acquits himself quite nicely as Harry Hart, but the film belongs mostly to young Taron Egerton as Eggsy and especially Samuel L. Jackson, who instantly becomes one of the most memorable arch-villains in or out of the Bond universe. Technical merits are generally very strong, and the set of supplementary featurettes rather interesting. Recommended.
2014
Bonus Chronicle On Digital HD On VUDU
2014
With Collectible Coasters and Kingsman: The Golden Circle Movie Money
2014
With Kingsman: The Golden Circle Movie Money
2014
2014
Limited Edition
2014
Movie + Vinyl Soundtrack
2014
Premium Edition with Collectible Book and 8 Character Cards
2014
Premium Edition
2014
With Collectible Coasters and Kingsman: The Golden Circle Movie Money
2014
Limited Edition
2014
2017
2017
2018
2015
Cinematic Universe Edition
2019
2019
Collector's Edition
2021
2006
2017
2015
2018
2015
2002
2016
1999
1995
Limited Edition
2015
2012
1977
2011