The third Kingsman movie of the Kingsman franchise, The King’s Man, hit theaters this past December. Unlike the past two Kingsman movies, this movie was a prequel and offered some backstory to the previous movies that were released in 2015 and 2017.

It is not necessary to have seen the first Kingsman movies to see the newest one; however, I think that it could be beneficial. The King’s Man was a more serious movie in comparison to the others. It almost seemed like Matthew Vaughn, the director, was trying to make the Kingsman franchise more James Bond-esque, rather than the past movies, which are much more comical and absurd. 

If you are looking for a comical action movie, you will not find it here. Although some moments are more lighthearted than others, the overall tone of the movie is quite serious. The movie is fairly inconsistent with the plot: half of the movie is a World War I action film and half is a spy epic. Although this made the film seem a little choppy, I did not mind this style because it combines two similar genres into one. 

The movie starts out with the death of a character that leads to much of the plot. The story follows a boy, Conrad Oxford, and his father, the Duke of Oxford. The plot is essentially like any other generic spy movie: a secret society is formed that is promoting war and hoping for the destruction of England, which prompts the Duke of Oxford, played by Ralph Fiennes, to form a small group to stop their evil plan. 

The group travels all over Europe to stop each member of this society. Like the other movies in the franchise, this one keeps some of the absurd plot lines; in one scene, the group goes to Russia and fights Resputin in a predictable yet entertaining fight. 

Because it took place during World War I, much of the movie is made up of dialogue about politics, which makes this movie more dry than the past two. Although the dialogue is broken up by action scenes, at times the movie can seem slow and uninteresting. This makes the film take on a more James Bond type plot but in a less classy way. 

The movie involves a lot of context about world politics from that time, covering everything from colonialism to the rights and wrongs of war. The film feels like a cross between a Kingsman movie and 1917.

Although this is no award winning movie, I recommend the watch if you are a Kingsman or action movie fan. Despite some of the flaws, the movie is entertaining and the plot twists will keep you on the edge of your seat. If you are looking for an amusing action spy film, The King’s Man fits the bill and is worth the watch and is worth a solid 6/10.