The King's Man (2021), a prequel to the campy spy movies Kingsman and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, is a disappointing mess.
The first movie - Kingsman - is a strange, sometimes funny and often raunchy, take on (and I think satire of) the tradition of James Bond... the stylish, well dressed spy with sharp dialogue, over the top action and sex. I remember enjoying it for what it was. The sequel, Golden Circle, tried to be more of the same and was disappointing proof that lightning rarely strikes twice.
The King's Men, evidently meant to be an origin story for the titular covert agency Kingsman, is just a mess. This is a movie that can't seem to decide what it is. Action? Drama? Satire? Some kind of commentary on horror and absurdity of war? Is it campy? Serious? Tragic?
At various points, it seems to try to be all of these things.
Indeed about the only thing that The King's Man isn't is a movie that shares any kind of tone or energy with the two movies that came before it. (Well, it also isn't a musical... but I'll without my commentary on Star Trek Picard's second season until that has ended.)
On the whole, the only think I can think of to recommend this movie is one fight scene involving the mad monk Rasputin. I recommend finding it on YouTube, thus saving yourself the bother of watching the rest of the movie
The parachute/ climbing scene is also funny.
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