Review: 'The King's Man' Less Zany, Still Thrills

With "The King's Man," a WWI-set prequel to the "Kingsman" franchise, director Matthew Vaughn has not only backtracked the time-period but the general "Kingsman" tone as well.

While the first Kingsman movie, starring Taron Egerton, was a delightfully over-the-top riff on the James Bond franchise, and the sequel felt like Vaughn trying to outdo the craziness of the first film, "The King's Man" only occasional dabbles in lunacy. For the most part, this is a more serious affair with a bunch of character shenanigans and some nifty sword fights and action sequences.

Here we focus on Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes), a man who suffers a terrible tragedy and, as a result, feels overprotective toward his son, Conrad (Harris Dickinson). Constantly having him trained by Shola (Djimon Hounsou), and with a mother stand-in in Polly (Gemma Arterton – who does more as the film progresses) – Conrad isn't sure of his place in the world and desperately wants to fight in the war. Orlando is insistent he doesn't, and has the means to keep him from going.

But as the world becomes more of a mess and historical figures become part of a chess game that could end in a worldwide catastrophe, Orlando finds it impossible for him and his son to not get involved.

It's good if you know some history going into the film. I, admittedly, am not up on it as much as I could be, so whether things were keeping close to the facts or Vaughn was playing around with them a lot, I'm unsure. (I'm sure he took some liberties.) But while we get several key historical players, the best is Rasputin (played insanely by Rhys Ifans) in one of the films more ludicrously delightful performances. His characterization felt more in line with the previous "Kingsman" films, but it's short-lived. There are so many characters and plot machinations, some characters don't get as much screen time as we might like.

And while you'd expect Dickinson to take over the lead duties à la Egerton, the real lead here is Fiennes. And that's a good thing. At 58, he is pulling a Liam Neeson and proving he's a worthy action hero. From a heart-stopping plane ride to a climb up a mountain, not to mention numerous sword fights, Fiennes proves he can head into combat with the best. He also has the ability to glide through the serious stuff while still keeping a bit of the wink-wink that the franchise is known for.

At times the film goes full-out serious as well, recalling a bit of "1917" and surprising us with unexpected casualties that are played close to the heart. It all works, but again, if you know the franchise it does seem like a brand-new direction. While I missed some of the zaniness of the originals, I respected what Vaughn was doing and can see how this will inform any films that might follow.

To that end, the film is clearly a setup for sequels, with a great group of Kingsmen at the helm by the the time the film fades out, including the addition of Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Vaughn's "Kick-Ass") and Stanley Tucci.

I'm excited to see where the next "Kingsman" will go, and if the bonus scene is any indication, they will be in for the fight of their lives.

"The King's Man" streams on Hulu today.