The New York Times

The British director of Kingsman Mr. Vaughn has no interest in, or perhaps understanding of, violence as a cinematic tool. He doesn’t use violence; he squanders it. That’s too bad, because someone here has assembled a fine cast led by Colin Firth, who plays a spy in an agency hidden behind (and beneath) a Savile Row tailor shop where he swaps tradecraft secrets with Michael Caine, Mark Strong and the charming newcomer Taron Egerton.

A lisping Samuel L. Jackson plays the villain, an American zillionaire with a henchwoman (Sofia Boutella) who, like Oscar Pistorius, uses leg prosthetics, though ones that are sharp enough to slice a man in half as cleanly as if he were an overcooked Easter ham. Nothing excites Mr. Vaughn as a director more than turning this chick loose, especially in slow motion with a gun in her pretty hand.

“Kingsman: The Secret Service” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Splat.

The Washington Post

The two heroes at the center of the cheeky, highly entertaining English espionage thriller “Kingsman: The Secret Service” — one a master spy, and the other his protege — are a study in opposites. The more senior of the pair, played by Colin Firth, is a dapper, James Bond-like super-agent code-named Galahad. His young student, on the other hand, is a rough-around-the edges Cockney lad with an arrest record and an affinity for ballcaps and sneakers. Like this odd couple, the film is also a mix of the juvenile and the sophisticated. Based on a series of comic books by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, it’s both a sharp send-up of spy movies and a silly celebration of action movie cliches in the Quentin Tarantino mold.

The plot is at once ridiculous and smart. Though Valentine is intent on human annihilation, he means to achieve this goal not with a doomsday weapon, but with an object whose ubiquity and potential for evil is becoming all too clear in the real world these days: the cellphone. How this unfolds is one of the film’s several pleasures, so I’ll leave it at that.

Not all gags, however, pop. Jackson’s lisping way of speaking, for example, while funny at first, quickly becomes annoying. And a dirty joke near the film’s end, which portrays Eggsy as way more lecherous than we have been given to believe comes across as crass.

Rated: ★★★☆

The Guardian

Colin Firth is both ludicrously British and modern-day Hollywood in Kingsman: The Secret Service, the wildly enjoyable new film from Matthew Vaughn. Harry Hart is the Obi-Wan Kenobi to Eggsy (Taron Egerton), a good-natured but wayward kid living in a brutalist apartment block with his mom and abusive stepdad. Kingsman is a highly advanced, well-funded independent secret service unaligned with any government.

The spirit of 007 is all over this movie, but Vaughn’s script (written with frequent collaborator Jane Goldman) has a licence to poke fun. There are direct references, like how to mix a martini and Lotte Lenya’s spiked shoe, but the overall vibe is sheer glee, as if no one involved in the production can believe they’re getting away with making such a batshit Bond.

Despite the presence of grandfatherly Michael Caine, Kingsman’s tone is about as far from the Christopher Nolan-style superhero film as you can get. The action scenes delight with shock humour. It’s violent, but not gory, ready-made for word balloons reading “OOOF” or “KRAKOOM”.

Rated: ★★★★☆