The King's Man: Film Review

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Gemma Arterton, Djimon Hounsou, Harris Dickinson, Charles Dance

Director: Matthew Vaughn

The Kingsman prequel steps away from the Savile Row trappings and OTT violence of the Golden Circle and the first film, of Eggsy and Harry, and plants itself firmly in World War I territory.

Following the death of his wife at the hands of a Boer insurrection, Ralph Fiennes' Duke of Oxford swears off violence into a life of pacifism. But with the war's storm clouds brewing, the Duke of Oxford struggles to win over his son Conrad's desire to do his duty and sign up.

Revealing that he has helped set up a secret organisation with moles all around the world, Oxford takes Conrad (Dickinson) into the shadowy world, showing him there are other ways to do your duty. However, at the same time, a mysterious cabal, headed up by a vengeful Scot, begins pulling the strings and manufacturing a global conflict that will become World War I....

The King's Man is an odd mix of tonal changes, of drama and comedy, of hyper-kinetic violence and incredible surprises - and a film that doesn't seem to sit as part of Vaughn's prior Kingsmen entrants.

However, in large parts, it works.

Mixing bad taste and a general raucous tone throughout with a more stoic stiff upper lip dramatic feel where Fiennes is concerned, Vaughn's The King's Man has some utterly outstanding moments.

One sequence where Ifans' Rasputin (a mix of Alan Moore, and lascivious Goth rocker) is under attack and retaliates with Cossack twirls and vengeance is a swirling mix of cinematic bravado, all soundtracked to the 1812 Overture. An opening bird's eye vista of how war will ravage the idyll of the countryside is a catch your breath moment.

These are the moments where The King's Men excels - where it confounds expectations and delivers more than you'd expect from a film series which saw Elton John fighting robots.

But then it's not averse to having goats deliver a punch line when needed. It's this mix of zigzagging sensibilities that are mired with exposition-heavy sequences that slow proceedings and make portions of the 2hours plus run time feel like it's collapsing on itself.

Maybe its distinct lack of identity will not help The King's Man - is it a spy movie, is it a war movie, is it a balls to the wall don't care movie?

Possibly it's all of these things - and it's all the more luridly entertaining for it. Even if you do feel exhausted at the end by its muddled mix.