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“The King’s Man,” directed by Matthew Vaughn, is a wildly inconsistent action film. It appears that half of the production teams were interested in making “1917,” while the other half were eager to get their hands on the British version of “Team America: World Police.” When it comes to politics, warfare, and pacifism, it’s a film that tries far too hard to be a serious study until it slaps you in the face with a reminder that this is all set-up for one of the broader, goofier action franchises of the modern era, the results are mixed. It’s true that one shouldn’t look for hidden messages in a film from this series, but Vaughn and co-writer Karl Gajdusek keep bringing them to light with very serious discussions of everything from colonialism to the human cost of war, and it’s clear that the director wanted to make a dramatic World War I film, but it was crammed into the Kingsman franchise by mistake. A charismatic cast and an occasionally entertaining piece of action choreography keep this strange hybrid of war drama and patriotic action orgy from becoming completely tedious, but it never finds its rhythm or groove.
After the success of “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” director Matthew Vaughn made it clear that he was interested in directing another James Bond film. He preferred one set during 007’s space mission, which was more outrageously imagined at the time. “The King’s Man” is a traditional spy film for the majority of its running time, with the emphasis on intrigue and espionage rather than gadgets and explosions for the majority of its duration. It also stars Ralph Fiennes, a man who, in an alternate universe, could easily have been Bond. He is an actor who always gives his all, even when the film doesn’t know what to do with him.
Fiennes portrays Orlando Oxford, the man who would go on to found the covert operation that was the focus of the first two films and, according to reports, play a significant role in a number of events related to World War I. He serves as a crucial ally to King George (Tom Hollander, who also plays Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas in an admittedly amusing casting choice) during the period when it appears that a violent conflict is inevitable. In essence, Oxford establishes his own spy network with the assistance of Shola (Djimon Hounsou) and Polly (Gemma Arterton), two brilliant young women who also happen to be servants at his estate, allowing them to remain hidden in plain sight while so many privileged white men ignore them. Yes, it’s an intriguing concept, but “The King’s Man” does virtually nothing with it, despite the fact that Hounsou and Arterton are two of the film’s strongest performers (give them an action-driven spin-off).
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Meanwhile, a villain who is only seen from behind for nearly two hours of the film’s running time plots to destabilize the world with the help of his own network of spies, which includes Rasputin (Rhys Ifans), plans to destabilize the world with the help of Rasputin (Rhys Ifans). As the war becomes more bloody, Oxford fights to keep his son Conrad (Harris Dickinson) away from the front lines, preaching pacifism and protection whenever he has the opportunity. In spite of this, the film continues to push back against it to the point where it almost appears to suggest that the horrors of this world will turn even the most upstanding gentlemen into murderous machines. Yes, Britain, f*ck yes!
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Tonally, “The King’s Man” is a jumbled mess. It begins with notes from British soldiers in South Africa about the inhumane conditions they are subjected to, as well as a promise to keep a young Conrad Oxford away from a life of violence. In other words, it establishes itself as a critique of colonialism and pacifism, two concepts that have been rendered obsolete by the time Fiennes is parachuting out of a plane and engaging in combat with a mountain goat in the final scene. The tone also is inconsistent, as Vaughn’s film alternates between being a serious war film with “something to say” and having the goofy action aesthetic that fans of the first two films will expect from the third (and wish they got more of here). It is frequently obnoxious and self-important in ways that this franchise simply cannot be. It’s a little clever to apply the over-the-top aesthetic of the first two films to fights with Rasputin and actual events from world history, but why take it all so seriously? It’s as if Vaughn and company were listening to the criticisms of the misanthropy in the first two films and decided to go in the opposite direction… until they realized it wasn’t nearly as entertaining as they had hoped and turned around.
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As a result, “The King’s Man” only works when the audience is reminded of its insane predecessors. The film almost comes to life during a ridiculous scene in which Rasputin licks Oxford’s leg wound, which then leads to a clever action sequence, but then it crashes and burns for the next hour and a half until the conclusion. In that hour, there’s a scene in the trenches of World War I that’s far more “1917” than “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” and “King’s Man” then intensifies its inconsistency even further when its climax is revealed to be a prequel to what fans already know about the franchise. In an almost hysterical fashion, Oxford launches one of the worst plans in war movie history, but it results in an entertaining, long cliffside sequence and some truly solid action choreography just before and after the villain’s revelation. In regards to that, it should be against the law to disguise a (fairly obvious) villain for as long as this film does so. After the hundredth photograph of the back of his head, I began to conjure up a variety of amusing scenarios. Is it possible that it’s Blofeld? Is it possible that it’s Begbie from “Trainspotting”? Is it possible that it’s The Riddler?!?! This gimmick completely turned me off to the film.
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I suppose this implies that I was ever truly enthralled by this film. It didn’t work. A strange film, with no clear direction for its undeniably talented cast, and there’s something disconcerting about the way it wants everything at the same time. Action films that also happen to be about pacifism are difficult to sell to anyone, but “The King’s Man” has an impossible time doing so.
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The film is only available in theaters today.
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