I thoroughly enjoyed the first two films in this franchise, and have been looking forward to this preqel for a long time. Sadly, while it is from the pen and camera of Matthew Vaugh, it has almost none of the appeal of those earlier films. The story is convoluted and the pacing is dreadfully slow. There is none of the humor I expected, and only a few hints at the highly stylized action sequences that made the first two so fun. As for characters, Conrad drew only mild sympathy, Shola had hints of greatness, and Rasputin was comic-book villain at his best, but the rest of the cast fell flat. If this has been the first film of the franchise, I doubt I would have had any interest at all in the others. Taken on it's own I guess it's a fine middle-of-the-road action flick, but if you're expecting a Kingsman movie, you'll probably be disappointed.
Review of The King's Man
