2/5 stars

Cert: 18

Out 26/12/21

Ralph Fiennes and Gemma Arterton head a stellar British cast in the 3rd instalment of the Kingsman film series. Directed and co-written by Matthew Vaughn, The King’s Man is based on the comic book The Secret Service by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons and is a  prequel to the first film in the series which was released in 2014. After a delay of almost two years due to Covid, the film is finally making its debut by introducing a whole new set of characters.

As a group of history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a world war, Sir Orlando Oxford (Fiennes) must do his best to derail their plan. Meanwhile, having promised his dying wife to protect theirson Conrad (Harris Dickinson) from the evils of military action, Orlando has forbidden the young man from joining the Western Front even when called upon by family friend Lord Kitchener (Charles Dance).

After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Britain’s King George finds himself in a war of words with his European cousins Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas (all three are hilariously played by Tom Hollander). Elsewhere, Orlando and Conrad vow to stop Grigori Rasputin (Rhys Ifans), a supposed monk who has long been suspected of manipulating the Tsar and his family. 

Vaughn’s film presents more of the same nonsensical and puerile humour we’ve come to expect from this franchise. There are some borderline offensive gags mixed with some more serious moments with Fiennes doing his best to salvage any dignity in the process, And to some extent, the film works better when its making a pertinent point about pacifism and the
pointlessness of war. Having said that, the film often feels overly inflated, overlong and to put it bluntly, tediously pleased with itself.

Fiennes carries the film from start to finish, but props must also go to the always brilliant Harris Dickinson who is charm personified here. He puts on a stirring and gorgeously layered performance, but in the end even he can’t salvage the film from its utterly ludicrous premise.

Overall, a muddled, unfunny and overlong mess which is only slightly elevated by a peerless central performance courtesy of Fiennes. Fans of the franchise will of course lap it up just as they’ve done with earlier instalments, but sadly besides the same old posh old boys in-jokes, there isn’t really much there to warrant anyone’s time.