Second Look - Fantastic Four (2015)

Following the failure of the second Fantastic Four film, Rise of the Silver Surfer, Fox would later announce a reboot of the series (seemingly for the purpose of holding onto the rights as the MCU was taking off), simply titled Fantastic Four (2015) (Fant4stic). This film, directed by Josh Trank of Chronicle fame, would be the subject of an infamously troubled production that exposed the limitations of studio secrecy regarding comic book films, resulting in a box office disaster that I witnessed firsthand in the theater. Although I did not like the movie when it first came out, enough to believe it made the 2005 film look like a masterpiece by comparison, I decided to revisit it alongside the original duology, opting to stream it through Max. Needless to say, my opinion did not change much in the decade since my first viewing.

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (PS4)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil: Revelations and Resident Evil: Revelations 2.

Soon after the release of Resident Evil: Revelations (REV1), Capcom greenlit a sequel, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (REV2), this time for home consoles and the PlayStation Vita instead of the Nintendo 3DS. For this entry, however, producer Michiteru Okabe suggested taking the episodic structure of REV1 one step further and releasing REV2 with a weekly episodic model like a traditional TV series, as popularized by Telltale Games. As such, the writing took more influence from episodic TV shows, which included ending each part with a cliffhanger to encourage players to download the next part. Each of the four episodes released as planned in 2015, followed shortly after by a complete retail release that also included both Bonus Episodes, originally released as DLC. REV2 garnered positive critical reception and, as of 2022, outsold REV1.

Since I committed to playing the Revelations games as part of my deep dive through Resident Evil (RE), I ended up at REV2 on PS4 after playing through Resident Evil 6 (RE6) instead of jumping straight to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (one of my personal favorites). Due to my disappointment with both preceding titles, I didn’t expect much from REV2 and thought I’d face another boring slog before “getting back to the good stuff”. Instead, much like how I felt going from Code: Veronica X to Resident Evil 0 (RE0), I found myself actually having fun with REV2, as it had learned from the mistakes of its predecessor and ended the pre-Winters portion of the mainline series (according to the Resident Evil Wiki) on a high note.

Second Look - God of War III Remastered

Note: This review contains spoilers for the God of War series.

Following the release of God of War: Chains of Olympus on PSP in 2008 came the long-awaited God of War III in 2010, the first to be released on the PS3. This installment happens to be my personal favorite in the series and one I have a fond memory of playing, in part since I attended a midnight launch of the game in my senior year of high school and, due to the timing of its release, was able to play through the entirety of the game across two days since I was able to skip most of those two days (I was also admittedly a little obsessive of its development during the pre-release hype). While God of War III also got the remaster treatment like most of the other Greek games, in the form of God of War III Remastered, this is also notably the only one of those games to be released on PS4, likely as a way of hyping the then-upcoming 2018 game. Naturally, I also played the remaster when it came out, and found it only fitting to revisit this game through said remaster. While I liked the original version well enough as a teenager, I got a lot more out of the game’s story on this playthrough, allowing me to appreciate it even further.

Shaun the Sheep Movie

One of Aaardman’s best-known works is the popular Wallace & Gromit franchise, which endures to this day. Notably, the third installment in the series, A Close Shave, introduced audiences to the character of Shaun the sheep, who would become popular enough to warrant his own spin-off series, the appropriately-titled Shaun the Sheep, which itself would warrant its own spin-off known as Timmy Time. The popularity of the Shaun the Sheep series would eventually warrant its own theatrical film, Shaun the Sheep Movie. While I’ve only seen a handful of Shaun the Sheep episodes and liked what I saw, my interest in the film came from already being a Wallace & Gromit fan, and after watching the film on home video, I enjoyed every moment of it.

Second Look - Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

Note: This review contains spoilers for the Star Wars Skywalker Saga.

Between The Walt Disney Company’s acquisitions of Marvel and 20^th Century Fox, the company acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, and with it came the announcement of a new trilogy of Star Wars films, collectively referred to as the Sequel Trilogy for taking place after the Original Trilogy. The announcement of the first film, The Force Awakens, naturally generated an amount of hype not seen since the Prequel Trilogy to the point where I saw the film opening weekend and enjoyed it on my first viewing. The further away I got from this first experience, however, the more problems I began to see with it on subsequent viewings, to where I wanted to reevaluate it following the trilogy’s lackluster conclusion. While The Force Awakens did do some things right, it’s not nearly as good as I once thought it was.

Phineas and Ferb: Day of Doofenshmirtz

Earlier this year, Sony announced the intent to shut down the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita digital storefronts, leaving countless digital games forever lost, only to reverse this decision later. It was during this brief period where we panic-bought a number of PS3 and PS Vita titles, during which we discovered that a game based on Phineas and Ferb had been released for the Vita, Phineas and Ferb: Day of Doofenshmirtz, which we did not know about previously. Since the game only received a digital release in the US, I opted to purchase a European physical copy to take advantage of the system being region-free. Some time after the PS Vita store was announced to not be shut down, I decided to play the game to see what it was like. While it is generally decent, my feeling are mixed on how well it works as a Phineas and Ferb game.

The Peanuts Movie

Note: This review contains spoilers for The Peanuts Movie.

My own experience with Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip has been somewhat minimal, having read one collection of the comic and watched a handful of the TV specials, so I’m not too much of an expert on Peanuts lore. That said, I still enjoyed what I knew of it, so when The Peanuts Movie was announced from the now-defunct Blue Sky Studios of Ice Age fame, I was somewhat curious about it because of the animation style, and especially after hearing a lot of positive word-of-mouth. However, I would not end up seeing it in a theater and it wouldn’t be until years later when I finally watched it through Disney+ to satisfy my own curiosity. Once I finally did watch it, I was amazed by its faithfulness to the source material and loved every minute of it.

The Beginner's Guide

Two years after the retail release of The Stanley Parable, Davey Wreden released his follow-up, The Beginner’s Guide, which I had purchased along with its soundtrack. I remembered that I liked it at the time that I played it, but had never reviewed it for whatever reason. Right after I had replayed The Stanley Parable, however, I gave this game another shot to see if my opinion on it had changed. Though I still appreciated its ambition and the point of its message after five years, I’m not sure that I thoroughly enjoyed it as much as I once did.

Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist

Note: This review contains spoilers for Dr. Langeskov.

In 2015, developer Crows Crows Crows, then-newly founded by William Pugh of The Stanley Parable fame, released an experimental project titled Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist (aka Dr. Langeskov). The fact that the game was free, as well as the refreshing transparency about its 15-minute length, got me to try it out. I remembered liking it when it first came out, though I recently decided to try it out again, partly to be able to give my own thoughts on it after five years and to try and obtain some of the achievements I missed the first time. Even after a small time gap, the game holds up really well as a worthwhile package for what it is.

Daft Punk Unchained

Of all the things to happen so far this year, the one thing I expected the least was the recent and sudden split of French house duo Daft Punk, whose music I discovered in high school and whose body of work I have been a fan of ever since. As a way to honor their legacy, I decided to watch the 2015 documentary Daft Punk Unchained, which I had heard about and didn’t actually watch until now, through a French import of a DVD/Blu-ray Steelbook set on a region-free player. Though I knew some stuff about the band already, this documentary taught me information about the duo that I didn’t know about before and gave me better insight into their musical ideology and impact.

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Friendship Games

Note: This review contains spoilers for My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games.

The year after Rainbow Rocks released, Hasbro released a follow-up, Friendship Games. This release coincided with my personal disillusionment with the Brony fandom, so I didn’t get to actually watch it until about four years later when I remembered I had recorded the TV version on a DVR. The long wait to watch it was actually a blessing, since I was able to view it more objectively. With that in mind, I feel that compared to Rainbow Rocks, this film took one step forward and two steps back.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 (PS4)

We’ve established by this point that we’re fans of the Tony Hawk games, particularly up to Underground 2. From that entry onward, however, the series would continue a downward spiral of popularity going into the release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 in 2015, the same year the deal with Activision expired. We later bought the game at a steep discount just to see how bad it really was, but wouldn’t go through a full playthrough until more recently. Having played every game from Pro Skater to Proving Ground, I can say without a doubt that Pro Skater 5 is truly the worst Tony Hawk game I have ever played.

Transformers: Devastation

While I haven’t played many games made by PlatinumGames, and I probably won’t, one game I was instantly attracted to was their take on Transformers in the form of Transformers: Devastation, thanks in part to the developers’ usual gameplay style and their attempts to capture the feeling of the 1984 The Transformers cartoon as close as possible. While I did play this game when it came out and liked it, I never gave the game a proper review since I was losing my enthusiasm for writing reviews at the time. After deciding to go back and do the game better justice, it’s still one of the better Transformers games out there and it manages to create a world with some interesting potential that will sadly never get properly fleshed out.

Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery

As the Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movies continued to be pumped out every year, it was hard not to notice from a casual glance that there was at one point more of a reliance on crossovers, including Hanna-Barbera’s own Blue Falcon, DC’s Batman (the Brave and the Bold version) and two movies with the WWE of all things. To be fair on the last one, crossing over WWE with other Hanna-Barbera properties such as The Flintstones and The Jetsons was in style at the time. One that stood out to me, however, was a crossover with the band Kiss, named Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery. While I wouldn’t consider myself a member of the Kiss Army, I do enjoy some Kiss songs and I was curious to see how such a crossover would work, which I got the chance to do after recording a Boomerang airing of the movie. Though I wasn’t sure what to expect, I ended up enjoying to a degree, though it seemed more like a Kiss movie than it did a Scooby-Doo movie.

[OLD] God of War III Remastered - ...Or Does It?

This game has been re-reviewed. Read it here: https://trophyunlocked.blogspot.com/2024/03/second-look-god-of-war-iii-remastered.html

 

Following the original release of God of War III on the PS3 in 2010, the game would later be ported and remastered for the PS4 in 2015 as God of War III Remastered, with all DLC costumes included on-disc. God of War Collection (collecting God of War I and II) had been released for PS Vita the previous year, however it does feel a little odd that said Collection would not have also been ported to PS4 alongside God of War III. Getting back on track, though I had gotten this port around the time it was released, with the intention to play it prior to God of War (2018) for PS4, it was only after a release date for the new game was officially announced that I finally started to play it as a primer, during whatever free time I had in my schedule. As I played it, I found it to have aged pretty well, even if the remaster generally felt a little unnecessary.

All of the content remains the same is with the original God of War III, just with a minor visual upgrade. I didn’t really notice any major difference in the visuals, however it looked really good nonetheless; this slight graphical upgrade makes the pre-rendered cutscenes slightly more noticeable against the real-time rendered ones, however it wasn't enough to be immersion-breaking. The music was just as good as ever (to the point where I had purchased a copy of the soundtrack beforehand), with the Gerard Marino track “Rage of Sparta” standing out the most. The voice acting was also still good and it was nice to hear Terrence C. Carson’s Kratos again, however I’m confident Christopher Judge will do a good job voicing the character in the new game. I didn’t really run into many technical issues while playing, save for one where I had some difficulty getting a double jump to work in places; I don’t know how much of it was me or some issue introduced in the port, as has been seen with some good remasters such as Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD ReMIX.

As noted in the opening paragraph, all of the costume DLC for the game is included on the disc. This even includes the 7-Eleven-exclusive Morpheus skin (previously only available through a Slurpee promotion that included a special flavor) and the Deimos skin tying into God of War: Ghost of Sparta on PSP. I should mention that you are only required to beat the game once to unlock all of the costumes, which saves a lot of the effort that was originally required.

Overall, God of War III Remastered is a great port, save for whatever technical issues I faced while playing. When I initially (awkwardly) reviewed God of War III, I considered it “a perfect game”; my opinion has since mellowed out, since the idea of a “perfect game” is highly subjective, however I would still consider it one of the best God of War games and it reminded me why I thought it was worth attending the midnight release of the original PS3 version. Though it is a good entry, I would still highly recommend playing the previous entries in the series, at minimum the numbered games, prior to this one should you wish to play it, as this game serves as the chronological end to Kratos’ story prior to the upcoming new entry. Now that Kratos’ journey through Greek mythology is over, it will be interesting to see what he does in the realm of Norse mythology in God of War (2018).

Undertale (PS4)

Back in 2015, Undertale launched digitally on PC to near-universal acclaim. When I first heard about the game on launch, I felt like I needed to play it, but despite eventually getting a Steam copy, I never got around to playing it. For some reason, it wasn’t until I got a physical copy (specifically the Collector’s Edition) on PS4 for Christmas that I finally took the plunge and completed the campaign just to see what all the fuss was about. After a few hours over the course of two days, I walked away thinking that Undertale really is a great game, but also feeling that in some ways the hype had tempered my reaction to the experience.

Long ago, Humans and Monsters co-existed until a war broke out between them. Victorious, the Humans used powerful magic to seal the Monsters underground, never to be seen again. Many years later, in 201X, a child wanders over to the site of the barrier between the worlds on Mount Ebott and falls through. Now they seek to return to the surface, which may prove more difficult than imagined.

The start of the opening backstory.

I won’t go too deeply into the actual story, since the very existence of certain characters can qualify as a major spoiler. However, I will say that the story that runs throughout the game, as well as the gradually uncovered lore, is pretty interesting. The player will also interact with a whole cast of characters, each with their own personality and dynamics that help them feel unique and memorable. For this reason, early-game characters Toriel, Sans and Papyrus became instant favorites. There are certainly some shocking or genuinely emotional moments, which I would attribute partly to the easy-to-follow, yet still somewhat complex plot, which holds the story together.

Of course, my reaction to some of these moments was tempered by the fact that I had been spoiled on certain parts of the game before I got the chance to play. I’ll admit that this is at least partly my own fault, but seeing fan stuff, as well as actual information about the game, online or at San Diego Comic-Con and WonderCon had taken away some of the surprise of the game during my playthrough. That said, I was able to dodge spoilers about one particular area of the game and the spoilers didn’t prevent me from figuring out why certain moments were meant to be shocking or impactful and I still felt genuine emotion during certain moments I remained mostly unaware of. Basically, being spoiled on this game ruined some of the surprise, but didn’t do much to diminish my own enjoyment of the story and characters.

Then there’s the gameplay. Undertale is a top-down RPG where the player can explore different areas of the Underground and interact with various NPCs and visit shops to buy and sell items or stay at an inn for a health bonus. Players can also equip items for various stat boosts and use other items to open up parts of the world or complete certain side events. When it comes time to fight bosses or enemies randomly encountered in the overworld, combat begins.

Undertale’s combat system is rather unique in that it combines elements from turn-based RPGs and Bullet Hell games into a hybrid system. The player is given four options: FIGHT, ACT, ITEM and MERCY. While FIGHT and ITEM serve pretty obvious functions, the two more interesting ones are ACT and MERCY. The MERCY mechanic is Undertale’s main selling point: that you can end any encounter non-violently. MERCY gives you the option to Spare a monster or to Flee (running away is a standard RPG move). To Spare a monster, the player will need to use the ACT function, which allows the player to Check an enemy’s stats or perform any amount of unique actions associated with each monster. Each monster is unique, with their own personality traits and quirks, so figuring out each sequence of ACT commands to gain the option to Spare them can be a puzzle of its own if the player chooses to play non-violently.

An example of combat.

Choosing any of the four main options will take up the player’s turn, at which point it becomes the monster’s turn and a white box will show up. Every monster has a unique pattern of attacks which the player has to dodge within this box. Dodging can get more difficult when faced with two or three monsters at once, so players are expected to stay on their toes during this segment. No matter how each encounter ends, the player will gain an amount of EXP and Gold, the latter of which can be spent at shops for better equipment and healing items.

While the overall gameplay is fairly unique and interesting, I overall found it kind of average and the more underwhelming aspect of the game. That’s not to say it was bad, far from it, but it felt a bit easy and less challenging than I had expected. This extends to one of the final bosses, which I had expected to be a big challenge based on how people talked about it, but ended up beating it in two tries. In fact, on the tougher bosses in the game, I got good enough at dodging, and maintaining a high amount of healing items throughout the game, that the low HP I maintained based on my choices became largely a non-issue. Still, I commend the game for at least trying something new and potentially laying the groundwork for a more refined version of the system later down the line.

I’ll also mention here that one central passive mechanic of the game is that it responds to your decisions. While these responses can be very minor and the idea of a game reacting to choices isn’t new, especially in popular games which have branching paths based around this, I will at least say that Undertale is able to take this concept to levels rarely seen in other games. I can’t say anything more without possibly spoiling something, but it’s certainly something to keep in mind while playing.

One notable aspect of Undertale is how its art style attempts to capture an old-school look with more simplistic graphics, likely due to how small the dev team and budget were. In spite of this artistic choice, it feels fitting after a while and is still capable of showing off a good amount of creativity with monster design. That said, the art style won’t appeal to everyone and whether or not the player can see past it will likely affect their enjoyment of the game.

The music is also rendered such that it evokes an old-school feeling, but it seems to work strongly in its favor. Toby Fox has composed a score that sounds like a mixture of piano and electronic which features heavy use of repeating leitmotifs. The result is a collection of songs which really fit the atmosphere and tone of the game at any given moment and a few of the tracks are highly memorable even outside the context of the game, due in part to the aforementioned repetition of leitmotifs. A few highlights from the soundtrack include Bonetrousle, Metal Crusher, CORE, Your Best Nightmare and MEGALOVANIA.

Part of this complete breakfast!

As mentioned before, I obtained a physical Collector’s Edition of Undertale on PS4 before I finally played the game. Along with the game, it also contained a physical 2-disc version of the soundtrack which came with seven additional tracks not found in the normal version (including the version of Bonetrousle featured in Undertale’s launch trailer) and a music box locket. The mechanism of the locket is of pretty good quality and we’ve determined that the locket plays the song Memory when wound up. However, it’s possible to briefly trigger the mechanism for a second if the locket is closed hard enough. Also, without spoiling anything, if you have the locket in your possession before playing Undertale for the first time, like I did, it will take on a greater significance once you've completed the story.

I thought it was worth it.

One final thing to note is that Undertale was surprisingly short. As stated on the game’s website, the average playtime is about six hours, although it took me a little longer over a couple of days due to how and when I played it. Additionally, the PS4 version keeps the aspect ratio of the original PC release, so the player has the ability to add a border around the game to fill in empty space and keep things interesting (especially if you select the Dynamic border).

Undertale is indeed a great game, but, as expressed by the developer, Toby Fox, it’s not perfect. The hybrid battle system and overworld puzzles can feel a bit too easy at times, even when facing some of the more challenging bosses. However, the game is more fondly known for its intriguing premise and concepts, unique and likeable characters, genuinely emotional moments and a rather memorable soundtrack even outside of the context of the game. The experience of Undertale won’t completely satisfy everyone, especially with how easy it is to find secrets on the internet, but it’s worth playing through at least once. If you’re a fan of RPGs or want to see a good example of a crowdfunded video game, try this game.

TY the Tasmanian Tiger 4

In 2013, after an 8-year absence, TY the Tasmanian Tiger came back rather unexpectedly in the form of another self-titled game released for systems supporting Windows 8 and above, before being made more widely available on Steam as the more appropriate TY the Tasmanian Tiger 4. Once again developed (and this time also published) by Krome Studios, the game takes a different direction than its predecessors, using a more two-dimensional art style and gameplay system while still emulating the feel of a TY game. I purchased this game on the last Steam Summer Sale without having played a TY game before (as I was just getting myself into playing them), though I decided not to play it until after playing the other three installments on Xbox first. I would say overall the experience paid off, even if TY 4 is a little on the short side.

Following the events of TY 3, New Burramudgee has been flooded and destroyed by Boss Cass. However, the new Lake Burramudgee hasn’t deterred Bush Rescue, who have simply reformed and moved to the nearby town of Coolarangah. Meanwhile, Boss Cass has set up his own private island resort, known as Cassablanca, where he appears to have retired. Despite this, TY has been made busy with Bush Rescue missions while having to deal with a specter from the past.

While the basic gameplay is similar to the previous TY games, there are some notable differences. For starters, the game is a 2-D sidescroller with all vehicle-based gameplay from past entries removed, alleviating the vehicle focus that took over much of TY 3. The Rang system is also reverted to being a mixture of TY 1 and 2, featuring Rangs with set abilities that can be unlocked through the story, though some additional Rangs (and even a selection of costumes) can be purchased using Opals in the main menu. While swimming sections also make a return, you no longer have to worry about running out of oxygen, though you do still have to worry about health (plus the game doesn’t have falling damage).

Typical gameplay. (Screencaps remain a challenge to locate.)

A new gameplay mechanic is introduced in the form of a special attack that can be used to take down tougher enemies. This new attack, however, has a couple issues: First, it takes up the button that was previously used for the bite attack (I played using a controller), leading the bite and throw attack to share the same button and become context-sensitive. Second, the attack requires you to sacrifice 10 Opals to use it, which can make saving them up for Rangs a bit challenging. (Protip: The unlockable Plasmarang can take care of some, though not all, enemies that would normally require the special attack to take down.)

In addition to Opals and story quests, each level is still packed with collectibles, sidequests, and bonus challenges that can keep one busy for a while. Levels can get surprisingly complex in their layout, should one be willing to explore for hidden collectibles, however there is always a way to get back to the main story path, as arrows are usually placed in the background to help guide you to the end goal. The level design can also get somewhat creative, especially with the final boss, providing a good amount of variety to keep the player invested.

Levels often contain multiple hidden paths.

The most noticeable difference is the visual style, taking on a more comic book-esque feel. While the level designs came out really well, the character models at times come off as being done more on the cheap, though this was likely a necessity for Krome Studios to make a new TY game without a AAA budget. This style is exemplified further by the story being relegated to comic book-style cutscenes, which also make up for a lack of voice acting in the game. While this might be disappointing for some, I could still hear the characters’ voices from TY 3 in my head as I played, showing that the characters can still remain consistent to themselves in a more visual-based medium. The sound design is still good though, with the game’s soundtrack remaining consistently good while including what sound like remixes of tracks from previous games to good effect.

Though different in many ways from what came before, TY the Tasmanian Tiger 4 is a worthy continuation of the TY series, though the average playthrough can come up a little short even with the extra content. Still, the gameplay translates well to 2-D while addressing some issues with the previous game, plus its evident that some care was still put into making it a good reintroduction of the TY character. The story, however, assumes you already know the ending of TY 3, so I would strongly advise newcomers hoping for a jumping-on point to play the previous three games first to get a better handle on the plot. As the ending seems to leave the door open for a possible TY 5, it would be interesting to see what Krome does with the franchise next.

Stubs: Kingsman: The Secret Service

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) Starring: Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, Taron Egerton, Michael Caine Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Screenplay by Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn. Based on the comic book The Secret Service by Mark Millar, Dave Gibbons. Produced by Matthew Vaughn, David Reid, Adam Bohling. Run Time: 129 minutes. United Kingdom/USA. Color. Espionage, Action, Comedy

There is never enough time to see everything when it is first released, so sometimes you have to play catch up. The pending release of Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) provided the incentive to finally take a look at the original film.

In espionage films, the James Bond series may be considered the gold standard. Not only has it been ongoing for more than 55 years and 26 films, but it embodies what audiences want in their spy films: girls, villains, special effects and girls (and yes, I meant to include it twice). The problem for Bond is that it seems to be caught up in 1950s ethics. The films have become tame if not dated when compared to other films that are trying hard to knock it off its pedestal. As an example, they never are rated higher than PG-13.

Kingsman: The Secret Service shows what would happen if you make an R-rated Bond film. This is a film that doesn’t shy away from mayhem, multiple murders and even a little nudity at the end thrown in to cover, or uncover all the bases.

The film opens with a raid in the Middle East in 1997.

The film opens with a 1997 raid in the Middle East. During the intensive interrogation, the prisoner sets off an explosive device and secret agent Lee Unwin (Jonno Davies) sacrifices himself to save his team. Blaming himself, Harry Hart (Colin Firth), code-named "Galahad", delivers a medal for valor to Lee's widow, Michelle (Samantha Womack), and his young son, Gary "Eggsy", saying that if they ever need help, they should call the phone number (which is the date of Lee's death) on the back of the medal. He gives them a code phrase to say "Oxfords, not Brogues" so he will know it's them.

Harry Hart (Colin Firth) offers an agent's widow (Samantha
Womack) a medal for her husband's bravery.

Jump ahead seventeen years. Professor James Arnold (Mark Hamill) is kidnapped by Internet billionaire and philanthropist Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) and taken to a remote mountain villa. One of Hart's fellow agents, "Lancelot" (Jack Davenport), attempts a rescue single-handed and is 98 percent successful, killing everyone in the room. But when his back is turned, he is killed by Gazelle (Sofia Boutella), Valentine's henchwoman. She wears a pair of prosthetic legs that are specially sharpened to double up as blades. She literally cuts “Lancelot” in half from head to toe.  She makes sure to cover all the bodies before Valentine’s arrival, as the sight of blood makes him nauseous.

Professor James Arnold (Mark Hamill) is kidnapped by Richmond Valentine.

Valentine shares Arnold’s concerns about global warming, but we’re still vague about his intentions at this point. The billionaire continues to meet secretly with various power-brokers and celebrities, some of whom go missing afterward. He also makes a Steve Jobs-like announcement giving away SIM cards which will work in any phone and will grant free cellular and internet access to everyone forever.

Meanwhile, in London, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) is now an unemployed young man living at home with his mother, infant half-sister, and abusive stepfather, Dean (Geoff Bell). Despite being highly intelligent and capable, he left training for the Royal Marines and lives an aimless life, accompanied by a couple of friends. When one of Dean’s goons (Velibor Topic) forces them to leave their pub, Eggsy nicks his keys on the way out and he steals his car. The police arrive immediately and Eggsy is forced to drive backwards through the streets of London. When finally cornered, he kicks his two friends out of the car and then runs it head on into the police car that had been following him.

At police headquarters, The Interrogator (Richard Brake) can’t get Eggsy to give up the names of his accomplices. Instead, Eggsy insists on making his call and dials the number on the back of the medal he still wears around his neck. He nearly fumbles the call until he remembers the phrase "Oxfords, not Brogues," which gets him immediate attention and he is sprung from jail.

Eggsy (Taron Egerton) calls Hart to get him out of police custody.

Waiting for him is Hart, who tells Eggsy that his father was an agent of Kingsman, an "independent international intelligence agency" founded in 1919 by wealthy British individuals who had lost their heirs.

While they're having a drink, Eggsy's step-father's henchmen encourage the two to leave the pub.

While they are talking at Eggsy’s pub, Dean’s henchmen come in and try to chase Eggsy off. But Hart has other ideas, locking them inside while he dispatches them.

Hart locks the door of the pub as he prepares to teach the men a lesson in manners.

Lancelot’s death means the agency has a vacancy and Eggsy is Hart’s handpicked candidate. There are others, including a woman named Roxy (Sophie Cookson), with whom Eggsy becomes friends, but not lovers.

Merlin (Mark Strong) addresses the candidates for the open Kingsman position.

Training is a sort of combination boot camp elimination process run by one of the senior Kingsman, “Merlin” (Mark Strong). Through the rigorous selection process, the other candidates are eliminated one by one, leaving only Eggsy and Roxy as the final candidates.

The boot camp presents the candidates with various dangerous
circumstances they have to overcome to survive.

While the selection process is going on, Merlin notes that Arnold is no longer missing and Hart tries to extract information from him. But a chip implanted in Arnold's head explodes, killing him. Hart is injured escaping from unknown assailants.

Turns out the signal that triggered the blast can be traced to Valentine's corporation. Hart, posing as a billionaire, dines with Valentine to try to ascertain his plans.

Hart pretends to be a billionaire and sups with Valentine (Samuel L.
Jackson) over Big Macs and fries. Valentine's assassin, Gazelle (Sofia Boutella), observes.

Later, when Hart takes Eggsy to the tailor shop that is the front for the Kingsman’s operations to have him fitted, the dressing room is occupied, so Hart gives his charge a tour of the weapons the organization uses, a la Q used to do for James Bond.

Afterward, it is revealed that the man in the dressing room is Valentine. Hart, keeping up appearances, passes Eggsy off as his new valet.

The final test involves them shooting a dog that they have been caring for during their training process. Eggsy can’t bring himself to kill his and fails the test. Roxy doesn’t have his compunction and passes hers to become the new Lancelot.

Arthur (Michael Caine) presents Eggsy with the weapon for his final test.

When he’s dismissed, Eggsy steals a car and goes to confront Dean. But before things come to blows, Hart recalls the car and brings Eggsy to him. There, Hart informs Eggsy that the guns were filled with blanks, which neither candidate knew beforehand.

At a church in Kentucky, Hart gets caught up in Valentine's test run of his tone.

Later Hart tracks Valentine to an obscure hate group's church in Kentucky, where Hart realizes too late that it is a trap. Valentine using his SIM cards to broadcast a tone that causes everyone in the church to become uncontrollably violent. A brawl to the death erupts, during which Hart massacres most of the people in the church, leaving him as the sole survivor. Eggsy, Merlin and Chester King (Michael Caine), "Arthur," the Kingsman's leader, watch separately via video links.

Eggsy watches through a video link.

After emerging from the church, Hart is confronted by Valentine, who shoots him in the head, seemingly killing him, to everyone’s horror.

Valentine and Gazelle are waiting for Hart when he emerges from the church.

When Eggsy goes to see Arthur, he notices that he has the same scar behind his ear, just like Valentine's other converts. Arthur pours Eggsy a glass of brandy containing a poison which is activatable, but Eggsy had distracted Arthur and switched the glasses before they drink. Arthur explains Valentine's views to Eggsy that humanity is akin to a virus, and global warming is the Earth's equivalent of a fever.

Arthur gives Eggsy a brandy that is supposedly laced with poison.

Valentine intends to broadcast his "neurological wave" worldwide to cause a massive culling of the human race in an effort to rescue it from extinction. Only those whom Valentine deems worthy of living — his allies, who have protective microchips implanted in their heads, and the VIPs who didn’t go along, but whom he kidnapped — will be spared. We’ve already been introduced to such a pair, Morten Lindström, the Swedish Prime Minister (Bjørn Floberg) is a willing ally, while Crown Princess Tilde of Sweden (Hanna Alström) rejects his overtures. Lindström gets a chip, while Tilde, whom Valentine otherwise likes, is put into protective custody.

Shortly after explaining Valentine’s plans, Arthur activates the poison when Eggsy refuses to join his side, unwittingly killing himself.

Unsure whom he can trust, Merlin enlists Eggsy and Roxy to stop Valentine on their own. Roxy is given the job of riding a high-altitude balloon into the stratosphere to destroy one of Valentine's satellites, while Eggsy and Merlin go to infiltrate Valentine’s mountain bunker complex in Argentina.

Roxy, who must overcome her own phobias (we’ve already seen her have trouble with high altitude sky-diving) and equipment malfunction, manages to down the satellite, but Valentine gets a business contact to loan him one of his, so the broadcast gets back on schedule. He then activates the signal which requires his constant palm print, causing worldwide violence. One of those affected is Eggsy’s mother, who, after locking her baby in a room and throwing away the key, tries anything she can to get in the room.

Merlin helps Eggsy infiltrate Valentine's fortress.

Eggsy, who has gained admittance, is recognized by one of the Kingsman candidates whose family has thrown in with Valentine. Exposed, Eggsy engages in a running shootout with Valentine's henchmen. During a break in the fight, he finds Tilde, who promises him sex if he frees her.

Merlin sets off the little explosive devices in everyone's heads.

Even though he seems to be winning, Eggsy is eventually outnumbered and both he and Merlin find themselves surrounded separately. Eggsy suggests that Merlin hack into Valentine's system and he sets off the implants, which kills Valentine's henchmen and every convert when their heads explode. All that is left are Valentine and Gazelle, neither of whom have the implants.

Gazelle and Valentine are the only ones without implants.

But in order to get to Valentine, Eggsy must first kill Gazelle, which he manages to do after a fierce and intense fight with her. He then spears Valentine with the sharpened tip of one of Gazelle's prosthetic legs. As Valentine falls to the floor and dies, the signal is cut off, ending the worldwide carnage, including Eggsy’s mother, who now comforts her daughter.

Princess Tilde of Sweden (Hanna Alström) promises Eggsy sex
if he frees her and when he saves the world he comes to collect his prize.

While Merlin watches through a camera on Eggsy’s person, Eggsy goes to collect his prize from a more than willing Tilde. When things get down and dirty, Merlin turns away.

The main story may have ended, but there is still a thread to finish off. In a mid-credits scene, Eggsy, now a Kingsman, offers to take his mother and half-sister to a new home. But Dean doesn’t like his suggestion and his henchmen prepare to take Eggsy on, he then dispatches him in exactly the same manner that Hart dealt with one of Dean's henchmen earlier.

Director Matthew Vaughn does a really good job of keeping what could have easily turned to chaos moving forward in a cohesive way. He manages to give us violence and comedy in the right mix and while there are special effects in the film, he does keep the focus squarely on the characters and the story. The fact that he would cast a virtual unknown in the lead shows a certain bravery missing from many films and he was fortunate that the risk paid off.

Kingsman: The Secret Service had its premiere at something called Butt-Numb-A-Thon, an annual film marathon held in Austin, Texas on December 13, 2014. The film had its theatrical release in the UK on January 29, 2015, and finally in the US on February 13, 2015.  Made on a budget of about $81 million, the film would go on to make $414.4 million worldwide. Likewise, the film got mixed to positive reviews, though it did well enough to garner a sequel, Kingman: The Golden Circle, due out later this summer.

A lot of this has to do with the casting of Taron Egerton, a relative unknown as the lead, Gary "Eggsy" Unwin. While Egerton was more accomplished going in, casting him was similar to the casting of Harry Potter lead kids. There is a certain amount of luck in getting the right person so early in their career that you can hang a series of films on them. Egerton is a genuine talent managing to play both a street thug as well as a sophisticated international agent.

He also manages to hold his own alongside the very talented Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong and Michael Caine. Firth has been acting since 1983 when he was cast as Guy Bennett in the West End production of Another Country. Perhaps his best-known film is The King’s Speech (2011), for which he won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Prince Albert, Duke of York, later King George VI. Harry Hart a.k.a. "Galahad" is almost the antithesis of that role. While still polished, Hart can do battle with the best of him as the centerpiece in one of the film’s best-choreographed fight scenes. The only one who can stop Harry is Richmond Valentine played by Samuel L. Jackson.

Jackson began his film career with 1972’s Together for Days, though he didn’t get on everyone’s radar until films like Pulp Fiction (1994) when he played the bible-quoting assassin Jules Winnfield. Since then he seems to have been everywhere, appearing in such films as Zeus Carver in Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995); Ordell Robbie in Jackie Brown (1997); Lt. Danny Roman in The Negotiator (1998); Mace Windu in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002); before playing Nick Fury in the MCU in such films as Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), not to mention pitchman for Capital One credit cards. Jackson’s Valentine is the personification of Silicon Valley liberalism run amok. Somehow the lisp that Jackson uses when delivering his lines makes him even more sinister.

If Jackson seems to be in every movie, Michael Caine has been. Caine has been working in films since Panic in the Parlour (1956), though he didn’t really become an international star until films like Zulu (1964), The Ipcress File (1965) and Alfie (1966). He seems to be equally comfortable playing leads like Harry Palmer, a role he would play in a series of films, and Alfie Elkins, to playing in ensembles like Elliot in Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) to playing supporting characters like Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. He has been nominated for six Academy Awards, winning for Best Supporting Actor in Hannah and Dr. Wilbur Larch in Lasse Hallström’s The Cider House Rules (1999).

Michael Caine plays the head of the Kingsman, Arthur.

Here, his turn as Chester King / Arthur is more reliant on his reputation than his actual acting as he does little more than sitting at a table through most of the film. Still, a sedentary Caine is better than most anyone else.

Algerian-born Sofia Boutella makes for one of the more unique henchmen in recent films. A hip hop and street dancer at the beginning of her career, she puts her talent to good use as Gazelle, who wears knife-sharp prosthetics and has the moves to make them deadly. Boutella is good as a villain, a type she would play again in the harshly criticized The Mummy (2017).

Mark Hamill’s brief appearance in the film is one of the few remnants from the original comic book, The Secret Service by Mark Milla and Dave Gibbons, it is based on. In that book, the kidnapping of actor Mark Hamill is the catalyst for the story, so it only seemed natural to have him appear in the film version, even in another role.

While I have not yet read the graphic novel on which the movie is based, it seems that like RED, it is the concept that seemed appealing to the filmmaker and less to do with the actual story in the book.

I can honestly say that I am looking forward to the sequel. The original film is adult, witty and has enough action to keep most summertime moviegoers happy. This is what a Bond film should feel like, though all too often that franchise gets bogged down by trying to fulfill expectations while protecting its brand. Such is not the case here, as the film manages to both parody the spy genre while presenting a high mark for future such films to try to attain.

I will also admit I had some apprehension about Kingsman: The Secret Service. “Just what the world needs, another would-be Bond,” but having seen it, I feel very enthusiastic in recommending it. While I know almost nothing about the sequel, except what you see in the trailers, I would recommend watching Kingsman: The Secret Service before going to see it. Trust me, you'll enjoy it.