The King's Man (2021) - Instant Entertainment without Lasting Impressions - 7/10 (10/02/22)

The King's Man is a prequel to the successful Kingsman movie series revolving around quirky spies defending the United Kingdom against all sorts of extraordinary criminals. This film here takes place around the First World War and includes numerous infamous historical characters from Gavrilo Princip over Grigori Rasputin to Adolf Hitler.

The story is all over the place and could have been written by a hyperactive teenager with a fascination for European history. The movie revolves around a weird secret organization that attempts to wreak havoc all around the world for obscure reasons. A series of elegant, noble and rich spies from the United Kingdom attempt to intervene and track down the mysterious leader of that organization.

Despite the shallow plot, this movie offers popcorn cinema at its very best and entertains from start to finish. The lush locations vary from England over Bosnia and Russia to India. Viewers will discover beautiful castles, historical downtown districts, wild oceans, bloody battlefields and isolated mountainous landscapes.

The special effects and action sequences are quite intriguing as well. The reimagining of Franz Ferdinand's assassination is certainly a highlight. The duel between a submarine and a regular ship during an ocean storm is extremely captivating. The final duel on a rugged mountain peak ends the movie on a high note.

The filmmakers attempted to add a few characters to the movie that viewers should be able to empathize with such as little family consisting of a courageous mother who dies a tragic death, a careful and caring father and a rebellious son who wants to test his own limits. Sadly, those characters remain rather flat and their actions are quite predictable. The efforts at character development deserve a shoutout but could have been executed much better.

At the end of the day, The King's Man is a humorous action-thriller with intriguing historical fiction elements that entertains from start to finish. The locations and special effects are the shining highlights. The plot is however almost ridiculously shallow and the character development is rather poor as well. My best suggestion is to watch this movie for the sake of instant entertainment only as it won't leave a lasting impression and can't compete with its two strong predecessors.