20th Century

‘The King’s Man’ Sets Sights on Premiere

An unlikely “Disney” movie will make its debut on December 22; contains “seeds of Kingsman 3″…

If you look up the body count for the first movie in the series, The Kingsman: The Secret Service on Google, the answer comes up: 2.5-3 billion (Reddit, thank you very much). The sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle was less ambitious but no more reverential to life.

It is, perhaps, the most bloody non-horror movie franchise in recent memory.

And it’s the third edition — a prequel — was delayed from November 15, 2019, to February 14, 2020. Then, it was delayed again to September 18, 2020. Oh, then again to February 12, 2021, and then again to August 2021, then finally (?) to December 22, 2021.

The King’s Man. Image: Disney

Which is where we sit. Waiting for the film, which stars Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou, and Charles Dance.

Vaughn’s Vision

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, producer of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch, and the director of Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class there is an air of inevitability about the movie. Perhaps that’s because this time there are actual historical events in the mix.

As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in The King’s Man. The Comic Book “The Secret Service” by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons.

Official Synopsis from 20th Century Studios

Meanwhile, there’s an old-school feel to the film, too; a film that does count as a costume drama.

“It’s more serious, but it’s not boring,” director Matthew Vaughn told Movieweb. “With all due respect to the Oscar-winning movies of the last 10 years, not many of them are big, epic films that you want to watch again. You think, ‘Great film. I’m done with that one.’

“When I was a kid, whether it was Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, French Connection, this movie called The Man Who Would Be King, they were big epics that were proper films but they weren’t boring,” he added. “They were adventures but they had heart and romance. It’s time to bring back that genre to a modern audience.

“Weirdly, the more old fashion we’ve gone, the more fresh it feels,” said Vaughn.

The King’s Man: Fresh Faces?

Of course, this is the third in the series, so the premise isn’t that fresh. But the filmmakers are betting that you want to know more about the employers of Eggsy and Galahad.

“We’ll discover why manners maketh man [in the prequel],” said Vaughn. “We’ll discover why one of my favorite lines in the new film is ‘reputation is what people think you are, character is who you are.’ It’s got a lot of what I’ll call home truths for our modern society that would be good to remember.

“We’ve put seeds for what’s going to happen in Kingsman 3 all the way back into this,” Vaughn told Movieweb. “And it’s going to be very different.”

About Post Author

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A graduate of Boston U. and Northeastern University, John Bishop, became the beat reporter for BostonBruins.com before the Boston Bruins 2006-07 NHL hockey season. While with the Black & Gold, “^BISH” traveled North America and Europe to cover the team's every move via laptop, blog, and smartphone. The co-author of two books, "Bygone Boston" and "Full 60 to History: The Inside Story of the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins," John also covered the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010 and the Bs 2011 Stanley Cup championship run and banner raising before taking a faculty/communications position at a prep school outside Boston in 2013. He lives with his wife Andrea, and sons Jack, Scott, and Luke, in central Massachusetts.

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