20 'Controversial' Movies Everyone Completely Over-Reacted To
16. Kingsman: The Secret Service
The Film:
Mathew Vaughn's delightful spy comedy, which is worth watching for the church scene alone but also has enough style, wit and acting perfection to amount to one of the coolest action films of recent years.
The Controversy:
The film has faced criticism for its comic gory violence and for its ending joke, which sees a princess rewarding Taron Egerton's protagonist with anal sex after he saves the day.
Why It Was Wrong:
Prior to Casino Royale, nearly every Bond film ended with Bond and his new girlfriend getting down to business. These sequences will usually involve crude sexual jokes. This ending joke was no more than a parody of that convention in the Bond films.
As well as this, most Bond films are far more sexist than this scene. The disappointing sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, was more problematic than the first in regards to gender.
The film, while generally well-received, has received some very negative reviews criticizing it for being morally repugnant. Once again, this isn't fair. The film's excessive violence is darkly comic and feels like a cartoon. It's an over-the-top fantasy which happens to go down a route of including the stylized graphic violence that many will find highly entertaining.
It's a certain style of spy movie pastiche which won't be for everyone, but it shouldn't been called repugnant simply because some don't relate to its humor.