10 Underhyped Movies That Blew Everyone Away

7. Kingsman: The Secret Service

Colin Firth And Taron Egerton Kingsman
20th Century Fox

The Non-Hype

Ever since Layer Cake and Stardust cemented his directorial talent, Matthew Vaughn projects have always been something to look forward to. And yet, Kingsman: The Secret Service barely registered on the hype meter.

The movie launched in January here in the UK, which, as we mentioned, isn't typically a month for standout projects. Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic World were just around the corner too, and the excitement for those movies was at its peak, two huge blockbusters that were sucking up all the buzz. Kingsman didn't stand a chance.

It definitely looked cool, like something fresh within the comic-book movie space, but honestly, did anyone expect one of the best movies of the year, one of the most iconic fight scenes of all time, and for the flick to be a massive mainstream success, grossing over $400 million worldwide? No. But that's exactly what happened.

The Big Reaction

As Kingsman began its global rollout, you could just feel the energy surrounding it starting to grow: Colin Firth's cool-as-a-cucumber Harry Hart, Taron Egerton's foul-mouthed and funny Eggsy, the cheeky humour, the insane violence, the goddamn church scene. The movie wasn't just good - it was unbelievably good, and right from its opening weekend, it was clear that we'd all just witnessed something rather special.

The Secret Service was the definition of a surprise hit, creating such a solid foundation on which to build a franchise that there's still a lot of excitement about this property today, even though sequel The Golden Circle was a major misstep.

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Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!