Chart Position: 17th Worldwide Gross: $414,351,546 Just creeping into the top ten is this, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Matt Vaughn's ultra-hip, postmodern, satisfyingly smart love letter (and slight send up) to the world of espionage movies. Boasting Vaughn's and regular screenwriter Jane Goldman's trademark use of ultra-violence and profanity, the film is a rousing achievement, brilliantly supported by a cast of game stars clearly enjoying their time on set (keep an eye out for Taron Egerton, kid's gonna be a star). In a way, this is a risky mainstream blockbuster, clearly targeting a younger audience, while doing away with that in its use of shock humour and nasty incidents of violence. For this reason, Kingsman can be seen as a definite companion piece to Vaughn's brilliant Kick Ass, which went about things in a similar way (the less said about the sequel, the better). Not without its flaws, the film is nevertheless an achievement in blockbuster filmmaking that is at odds with most of Hollywood's big fare, and for that it deserves credit. There's subversive franchise potential here.
