THIS BONUS EPISODE ORIGINALLY AIRED ON 7/29/2021
Millie and Danielle discuss gentlemen's gear, the need for amnesia darts, and justice for Scissor Legs in this bonus episode where Danielle just needs to talk about...KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (2014).
Hey, everybody, it's another bonus episode of I Saw What You Did.
My name is Millie to Jericho Danielle Henderson.
And oh my gosh, this is gonna be a good one. You know, we got into this habit of the past couple bonus epps where we were taking turns, kind of going into like one film that we really like or just really want to talk about. And it's back over to Danielle's side of the court now, and I'm excited about this.
I am sorry first and foremost, but it's always good to start out with I'm sorry, I have.
To talk about this.
I think this is going to be kind of a therapy session for me, like a theatrical theatrical therapy session, because I don't know what's wrong with me that I love this movie so much.
Well, this was the first time watched for me.
Oh I uh, it didn't scar me as much as Hereditary did. Okay, but there was I know something in particular that we definitely need to unpack a little bit that did leave me with a lot of questions.
Oh, I know, I already know what you're talking about. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna ruin it. Obviously, but I uh I.
But first of all, I will say it was completely entertaining my mom.
My mom.
I think I mentioned this on either another Bonus episode or I mentioned it.
On a regular episode.
I can't remember, but I call my mom watching this movie and because it comes on HBO a lot, and so I was like, what is my mom watching? And then it was the thing where I was like, oh, it's the guy that played Elton John and he's like, you know, in an action movie. And then I realized Colin Firth was in it and step so I was like, oh, I was a little aware of it already, but then when I sat down and I watched it, I was like, oh, this is like totally enjoyable and totally in line with you know, cause you mentioned it in the Action Movies episode and we did mcgruber last Botus episode. Totally fits in with all of this, right, So you know, makes sense that you'd want.
To talk about it.
So the movie we're going to talk about today was released in twenty fourteen. It was directed by Matthew Vaughn and it was written by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, and the movie is Kingsman The Secret Service.
Kingsman is an international intelligence agency operating at the highest level of discretion. If you're prepared to adapt, you can transform into a spy interested. Oh yes, So we need to get in here and talk about this.
First and foremost, I gotta say that this is a movie that was based on a graphic novel called The Secret Service by Mark Malar and Dave Gibbons, which translates pretty well because it's an entertaining kind of spy comedy flick, and it does have very graphic novel sort of comic bookie beats to it, for sure. But the synopsis is that, and I don't even know if I can do this in one sentence. I don't even know if I can try, because we're going to talk about so much in this movie. But the synopsis is that after his father dies in a kind of secret military event in nineteen ninety seven in the Middle East, our main character, Eggsy is recruited into the spy circle that his dad belonged to, and they are trying to save the world from the machinations of an Internet billionaire played by Samuel L.
Jackson.
So that's where we're starting, and there are so many reasons I want to talk about this movie. One is that it took me so long to see it because I didn't know Like when I first when it first came out, I was I don't know where my head was, but I was kind of like, oh, this seems like it came out when I was in grad school. First of all, I wasn't watching a lot of movies, but it seemed like kind of a little kid movie mm hm. And so I was like, oh, I'll save that for another time. And I don't know why I first watched it years later, but once I started watching it, I never stopped. I bought it, I own it, I watch it a couple times a year. I love it, and I'm so confused by it and the ending still I don't understand at all. But there's so much to talk about. So first of all, let's get into this cast.
The cast is.
We've got Colin Firth who plays one of the Kingsman spies named Harry Hart, Mark Strong, Jack Davenport, Taron Egerton, and then you also have Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson, and there's even a little not even a cameo. It's kind of like a small supporting role for Mark Hamill.
Yes, that threw me completely, Like it kind of was that thing where I was like, that looks like Mark Hamill, but he has a British accent.
And I was like, am I tripping right now? Is that who I think it is? Because this is this is.
Like a British movie, right, because I was like thinking, oh, well, here are all these like classic British actors, and then there's like Taron Egerton and then I was like, well, then, you know, Samuel L. Jackson is obviously American. But I was like, you know, maybe it's that kind of thing where it's like the one American in the British movie. And then I was like, wait a minute, I actually think that's Mark Hamill, but I can't tell it is. Yeah, And then when you just said that, I was like, oh my god, yes, totally him, right, it.
Is totally Mark Hamill.
And he plays this guy named Professor Arnold, who at the beginning of the film has been kid and in the course of being saved, we immediately like first three minutes of the movie see someone get sliced in half with some scissor legs. Ah yeah, pretty cool, Like it is incredible. The character Gazelle, played by Sophia Boutella, has these legs that just turn into swords and scissors and she just cuts people up. Yeah.
Man, it's such a great character.
That's like where some of the comic booky stuff comes into play for me, where it's like, oh, scissor legs, that is comic bookie.
Yeah, I can see too.
You said earlier about how you initially thought that this movie was for kids, and I could totally see that. Now that you've mentioned it comes from a comic book, I'm like, oh yeah. And there's definitely like things in the film that make it seem like it's for kids, because it's just sort of action y and like it's like there's very big kind of action sequences, and it's also kind of like there is like a Harry Potter sort of vibe to it in certain parts. But yeah, but then it's actually for kids at all.
It's not, And I should I should have known that simply by knowing that the comic book was was that the graphic novel was written by Mark Millar because he also did Kick Ass, Okay, so it's like he doesn't really do little kid things.
Yeah, And it's like and within the first like five or ten minutes of a movie, a person gets literally sliced in half.
I'm like, okay, definitely not for like my six year old nephew at all, Like, should not be watching this.
No, no, he gets sliced in half. And then we get to see so Valentine, who's the villain of the film, played by Samuel L.
Jackson.
We get a lot about his character right away because he walks into this scene where this person's been sliced in half and Gazelle has covered everything, Like you know, prior to that, there are a bunch of agents that had been killed, but prior to that, Gazelle comes in and basically covers everything with sheets so that Valentine can come in and talk to Professor Arnold. And that's where you realize and learn that Valentine cannot stand the sight of blood, like it makes him actually puke. There are scenes in the movie where Samuel L. Jackson looks at blood and pukes. It is just so weird and funny that this villain is like gentle. He kind of has like a spike lee vibe in his style, and he has a little lisp and like it's just such so many strengths, not the way that you're used to seeing a villain behave, and he's an Internet billionaire, so his villainy kind of comes from that, which, as we realize over the course of the film, the reason that he is even interested in Professor Arnold is that Professor Arnold has created something that he wants to use to nefarious purposes. So this is kind of the setup for the movies that we've got our villain, we've got our situation, and we've seen some of our spies, even though they've been cut in half. But the death of Lancelot, the spy that was sliced in half with the legs, leaves an opening in this British gentleman's spy group called the Kingsman, now the Kingsmen.
They all take their code names from the Knights of the Round Table.
So Harry Hart goes by Galahad, Mark Strong goes by Merlin, and so Lancelot's death leaves this opening, which is where we catch up with Taron Egerton's character. So, when he was little and his dad died, Galahad visited and gave him this medal of honor from his dad that he now wears as a necklace and it has a number on the back, and he's like, have you ever get into trouble? You can just call this number and say Oxford's not Brogues. And you're like, what Eggsy has grown up to be? He's just kind of grown up in a way where you can tell there's been a little bit of a fall from grace. You know, his mom has remarried this horrible and abusive man. She has another little kid, and he's just kind of a kid who who's very smart but didn't take a lot of chances, or he wasn't really given a lot of chances. So we learned very early on that Eggsy has a high IQ.
He has a lot of natural skills.
He quit the Marines, so when we catch up with him, he's just hanging out with his friends, getting in fights, stealing cars, which he drives like a maniac, so cool, and he uses he has to use the necklace because he gets arrested. So he's like, he gets his one phone call and he calls this number and says Oxford's not Brogues, and then Colin Firth shows up and basically downloads him on who his dad really was. And then kind of invites, you know, everyone of the Night of the round Table, everyone of the Kingsmen has to choose a candidate to replace Lancelot, so Colin Firth picks Eggsy and this is where we get our first real Kingsman style fight scene, and it is incredible. On this fight scene in this bar, where Colin Firth locks the door and just says manners maketh Men uses his umbrella to astonishing degrees to inflict mass violence on this group of thugs who are trying to get Eggsy back for stealing their car, and it blows his kid's mind and it's like he's And the thing that's hilarious about Kingsman to me is that they're such like upscale British gentleman types. So he's wearing like a very tailored suit the whole time and it's hit not a hair out of place and like these cute little glasses. I've never found Colin Firth attractive, and there are two times when I have. One is during the pandemic where he posted that picture of himself on Twitter holding up the garlic that he grew himself.
And I was like, yep, cute.
And this movie, and this is going to come back again as a theme in our podcast, where there are certain actors that I only find attractive when they're like violent. Yeah, so this is also where the therapy begins. Well, like what is.
No I actually I thought I'm not gonna lie.
I thought Colin Firth is attractive in freaking even in Bridge Jones's Diary, but also the most attractive that I'd ever seen him was.
In that movie A Single Man.
Was that that the movie that was in a Julian Moore where he kind of looks very similar where he looks kind of like a sixties I mean, it's obviously funny that Michael Kaine is in this movie because that was Michael Kane in the sixties.
Was how Colin Firth looks in.
This movie today, with the kind of you know, suits and the and the big glasses and so yeah, when I saw him, I was like, oh, yes, it's the suit and glasses look that I love.
But also, so this movie is so.
I already mentioned Harry Potter, but it also kind of reminds me of John Wick in the same way where it's kind.
Of this like it's this kind of like I don't know what it is.
It's like a fetishism about men's clothes thing and like men's gear, like gentleman's gear. Because when he opens the umbrella, because first of all, I was like, okay, what's the umbrella about? It has to be some kind of like weapon, right, I thought.
Like a knife would come out and like that.
I thought he was gonna just literally be John Wick and just start he pulls out a gun and just starts blowing people's heads off.
But it like comes out and is a.
Part of his like martial arts or how he fights people. And so I was like, oh, this has some kind of like special powers with some fucking shit that we don't know about yet.
But it is fucking awesome to.
See that kind of guy, like a fucking like a little fuddy that hey looking guy beat up all these like British thug dudes who are like, Okay, this this part of the movie cracks me up because it's like I know that they're like like the stepdad. Tarret Egerton's stepdad is a piece of shit. We know that, yeah, And he sort of is like the gang leader of these like street thug guys.
The's like stupid idiots that.
Just hang out in pubs and like call each other bruv or whatever.
And there they are scary. They are they are scary, Like, oh, I.
Just thought this episode should be titled call Me by my Bruv, going.
By your bruv.
They're saying bruv like crazy, and I was like, and I was like sitting here, like going, man, that's such a fucking look like bruh. And and you know, and they're all just like terrorizing everybody in the you know, in this pub. But also it seems like they kind of terrorize the town or whatever a little bit. And so when fucking Calm Firth kicks their ass in this pub, it's so awesome. You're like, yes, and this umbrella, this magical umbrella. I'm sure we're going to fight out about it in just a moment.
Right, yes.
And it's like instant gratification because it usually you go through so many points of a film where you're like, oh, this is the origin story of this character, like this is Eggsy's origin story technically, and they usually don't get justice, and there's instant relief and justice and seeing these guys get what's coming to them.
Yeah, and like the the the pub owner. Like after the fight's over, he picks up the phone to call the cops and then like calling for.
Just shoots a little like amnesia.
Dartin is fucking neck or whatever, and then he's just like okay, and I'm like, yo, darts.
If I had tiny Anesia darts, I would take. I would pop myself every night before I went to bed. I'd be like, let's forget that the whole day.
You know, I would o d on Asia darts. Let's just be serious. I'd be like, yo, I just had a bad lunch.
It never happened, Like, oh, you only need to forget the last five minutes. Great, I won't be doing this all day. I'd have an implant. I'd have like one of those little drips, like like like a those what was that that birth control with they like implant in your arm.
I would do that for amnesia darts, for.
Sure, what a constant flow of amnesia juice?
Just press on my shoulder. There we go, relief. But it is these kinds of.
Things are I love this kind of stuff in movies. I love spy shit. I love it, so I love the whole and it's like the spy makeover is so different from any other makeover, which is what we get to see very shortly. So we get Eggsy gets to go with Galahad with Harry Hart to their headquarters. The Kingsman headquarters are on Savile Row, which is so hilarious to me because Savile Row is like the posh part of London where you can get spoke suits and kind of hand me upscale shit.
So that's their headquarters.
And when he takes him through the headquarters and kind of shows him all of the tools, all of the cool spy stuff, like a pair of shoes that if you click the heels together, a little knife comes out of the toe, and I'm like, this is dope, Like this is the kind of shit that we need in our everyday life. It would be way too dangerous for the public to have granted, but it gives me hope that one day we'll evolve a little bit into the sci fi future I've always wanted, Like, forget flying cards, I want knife shoes, I want amnesia darts. It's like I want the stuff that is possible now I know.
I want a Zippo grenades so bad they'd be so sweet and just yeah, And then it talks about the idea that all these little accoutrements, these like gentlemanly accoutrements that they have are like have like neural toxins and like they're grenades and they're poisons. And the umbrella is like bulletproof. The suits are bulletproof, and in the moment, I swear to God, I love it. This is what I love about John Wick two.
You're absolutely right.
Is like when they open the door, and the door or it's almost like a false door, and then it goes into this like layer where everything is laid out in this like perfect way, and then it's like here's the guns, here's the umbrellas, here's the zippos, here's the shoes, and you're just like it's almost like walking into a rich person's closet and with the lighting behind it, and you're like, all.
Of this shit will kill people. This is so sweet, Like a wealthy closet that kills that.
Yeah, exactly, just the fantasy of it, because that's what we love about these movies, right, is this idea that it's like, oh, look at all this spy shit that will like these like tiny little things that can like blow up an entire building or whatever.
It's so rad.
Yes, it's and it's like kind of a heightened revenge fantasy because it's like the fantasy of wealth that gives you access to better tools to get more revenge.
Yeah, and gentile revenge is so a gentleman's revenge.
I just look a pair of cuff links that like has a spider Man net in it, Like I love shit like that. We're just tiny things. And then I also wonder, because this is just where my brain goes. I'm like, how do they get those back in? Like if you have a cuff link that shoots out a net, do you have to like repack the net? Like whose job is that? That's the movie I would write, It's like whose job is it to clean up after the spies and like make sure all their shit's back together so the next time they use it, it's ready to go.
I know, somebody's got to repair all those umbrellas. I mean, yeah, they got bullet holes in them. I mean the zippos seem like a one time use type of thing, so maybe they just order more grenade zippos.
But then, yeah, it does beg the question.
It's like, Okay, well that knife's coming out about Oxford, like and you just shove it back in. Somebody's got to go back in and calibrate those like come on, yeah, you.
Got to clean it off.
You can't just be letting blood sit on a knife, shoe knife, because then the next time you use it, Like I know, the point is to kill, but like what if you use it and you don't kill someone and you just give them tetanus, like you can't bloodborne diseases. You better clean those Somebody's gotta clean those knives. Like that is the movie I'm going to write, that's the spy movie al right. Who cleans up.
Spy Gear is so so great?
I love it, and I love it in this movie because, like you said, the way it's presented is in such a posh and kind of fashionable way. And then you get to go into the secret layer because the whole thing now is that Eggsy is just one of several people who have been chosen to potentially replace Lancelot.
So you basically get to go to like the Harry Potter spy school.
Yes, and like you're traveling in this little bullet train underground, like a private bullet train.
Okay, I want to talk about this bullet train, okay, because from what I saw, it almost look like like a bank tube, you know, like, yes, when you the pneumatic tube, Yeah, yes, so when you go to the bank and you put your money through the tube and it shoots, you know, and the thing it almost looked like it looks like they were sitting in a giant human sized bank teller tube.
And which is the dream? That is fucking sweet.
And I'm like, yes, like somebody has thoughtfully designed this, so why not do it in real.
Life so we don't ever have to sit in traffic ever.
Again, let's just get like giant human sized bank teller tubes just fucking shoot us to like Easter.
Island if we want to go, Like, come on, this is yes. I could not agree more.
I feel like the technology exists, we don't need to be looking to. We need to do better things with the tech we have. And I know that the pneumatic tube, bank teller bullet train might not be the most earth friendly way to get around, but that's why you develop them to be high speed and you only need a few lines, so like a subway, but it's hyper fucking speed and you can only go to two places. Yeah, like you can use your car and your feet and your bike for the rest of the stuff in between. Yes, but like we need this tech to get us around the Earth.
I know I want to get I want to go on the other side of the Earth in like fifteen seconds. Let's go, And it doesn't disrupt any the molecules of my body. It's just like we're we get out. We have like just enough of like a spot of tea, and then I'm like, I'm in Malaysia.
This is fucking tight.
And that was gonna be my next question, Like would you like to arrive like a melted bag of bones?
Or I feel like you can get to.
Canada in fifteen seconds when Malaysia might take an hour.
Maybe I told one in my head to explode, I'd still be down.
I'd still be down. If I could go to Malaysia in an hour, Yeah even an hour.
Yeah, I've sat traffick it Alay, It's longer than that just to get across town.
Like, I would definitely do it.
We can make it solar powered, we can be like we can really do this. I want to be a scientist. Every time I watch movies like this, I'm like I should have gotten into the sciences. Nothing about my education says that, but everything about my brain says that.
But yeah, I love this.
Shit because then you get to go to this school and it's basically they're only going to pick one replacement, and so they put all of these kids through a series of tasks and it's basically like, you know, you're never gonna know when it's coming, You're not going to know what the directive is. We're just going to show up and give you a directive and you're gonna do it and pass or fail.
And Mark Strong is in charge of this.
He plays Merlin, and he's kind of like the tech guy, Like he's kind of like the kind of nerdy I love Mark Strong in a nerdy role.
I love this for him.
I don't really know him very well, but I loved him. I thought he was such a great like the guy that ran the sort of school that they all had to graduate from. And I gotta tell you too, Invariably, in all these types of scenarios in every movie, you've got the prep school shits that are like picking on poor Eggsy because he's from a poor neighborhood and they're obviously a bunch of fucking like preppy dicks, and they make.
Fun of him, and they you know, pull pranks.
On him, And I was like, I hope they all get blowed up by a zippo grenade at some.
Point, like intentionally. Yeah, that is part of what I want to talk about too. It's just this how they take this construct of the prep school asshole and kind of turn it on its head here, because there are so many situations that they put these kids in where your money won't save you, your breeding won't save you. You have to be able to think outside of the box. You have to be intelligent, you have to be able to kind of use all parts of the brain and the world and life. And so Eggsy's got kind of a leg up in a lot of ways. He doesn't exhibit it in the best way. Like I'm thinking particularly of the first scene where they're sleep and then all of a sudden, the whole entire room starts to fill up with water.
Oh my god, I was giving me such a and.
They have to figure out, right, that's gonna say, you're flashing back to your river trip.
I was like, oh my god, this whole shit's gonna fill up with water and.
They're dead asleep, like talk about nightmare of nightmares. You wake up in a room full of water. And so they're all, you know, kind of figuring, trying to figure out how to survive or whatever. And they take these they rip these shower tubes out or the shower nozzles out and push them into the toilet to get to the air out of the pipe or whatever so they can breathe.
And Eggsy's like, uh, huh, fuck that.
I'm going to the window and I'm punching it open and I'm gonna.
Let the water out of this room.
So his kind of lateral thinking is beneficial to him, even though he's kind of a brute, you know, his lateral thinking is actually helpful to him in situations where these rich kids could never compete.
And I love seeing that. I love it.
Also, is it actually true that you can breathe if you put a if you put a tube and of toilet far enough, you can breathe fresh air?
Is that true? This is the thing.
I can't imagine that's true, because think of the sewage, think of the ship, think of like you might be able to breathe, but you're definitely getting cholera.
Yeah, yeah, Like what's the trade off. I'm not trying to huff no shits, you know what I'm saying.
No.
I honestly thought about that all night, Like after I watched the movie, I went back to my bedroom and I was like, can you actually breathe out of a toilet if you had to?
I'm like, too much money passes through there, No way.
Yeah.
I couldn't get past the visual of it. I couldn't. I would die.
I mean there's so many situations in this movie where I'm like, oh, yeah, I would just drown that dude.
I was like, yo, I am a woos. I would never make it. I would never make it even five seconds. In this fucking school, they do.
These like such wild stunts like I'm afraid of heights, And there's like a scene where they're jumping out of planes and have to like work together to hit a target on the ground, Like I just I can't. I can't with that shit. But they do it. And at first Eggsy does not get I love that he doesn't get the posting because he won't shoot the dog they gave him. Okay, this shit, they want a dog, and he picks a bug, and let me.
Just tell you, like, I don't know much about Taron Egerton's career. The only thing I know about him is that he played Elton John in the Elton John biopic, and I thought he did a fantastic job.
So seeing him in this.
Role where you know, he was like, oh, a hunky fucking dude who has like action chops, but he's also very funny. There was this moment where he goes so the whole premise is like their final what is it? The final task is that they were forced to pick a dog and hang out with a dog during this school, which already felt ominous, but I was also like, this is pretty tight.
I would fucking love to get a dog if I went.
To school, especially because like there are no dogs running around the Kingsman round table.
Yes, so you know some shit's coming up. Something's happening with these dogs.
And as you can't imagine, the final task to like make it or whatever is that they have to shoot the dog. And I was like, of course they made it so harrowing because they kept focusing on the little pugs face and he's like he's like Tong's out.
Fucking He's just like I'm just in love with you. And then you're just like, he's gonna fucking shoot that dog.
The best thing is that he goes, I'm not shooting.
A fucking dog to get a job. I'm just like, exactly, dude, exactly.
Break it down like that. This is where I feel like his background is key, because he's so practical. None of us would shoot a fucking dog to get a job. I don't care if you give me the amnesia darts. I'm not shooting a dog. I'll find another way to get the knife shoes. Okay, I'll make my own knife shoes if I have the duct tape a fucking steak knife to my heel.
I'm not shooting a fucking pet. I just love how he reduces it down to that whole sentence like I am not shooting a fucking.
Dog to get a job, which I feel was like a rule of life, right, Like that should be something that we just all take with us in any endeavor that we under you know that we take on. It's that whole concept, and it's so funny, Like when he says that, it's so fucking funny.
I'm so glad you up because that is the funny lines, especially after everything he's been through. He's like, I'm not sucking on a shit pipe and I'm not shooting a fucking There's no way around this, Like I can punch through a window to get around sucking on the ship pipe, there's no way around shooting a dog. Like, I'm not doing your fuck I'm not playing your goddamn games.
I'm done with the ships. I'll go back to stealing cars like fuck off exactly.
And that's kind of what happens, is that he doesn't fucking shoot the dog. But then his like the other person that he was in the running with, who was that that woman? Right?
Yeah, I think it's Samantha. It's not saman that will Mac. That's his mom. I'll find your name, no, yeah, But so it's like her and him and Roxy is that her name, yes, Sophie Cookson, yes, right, So it's.
Down to the two of them, and they're both in separate rooms with this moral dilemma of shooting a dog.
So he's like, I'm not shooting a fucking dog.
We get a job, and he refuses, and then what do you hear from the other room.
A fucking gunshot. So Roxy shot her fucking dog. You hear a fucking gunshot.
It is so hilarious because you're like, oh, you would think it would be the other way around. But I love how they turn it on their head where they're like, no, she is a savage. She would shoot a dog to get a job in a heartbeat.
Yeah, And then basically he's like, I guess I'm going back to my my apartment, like I didn't make it because I just didn't want to shoot a dog, And so that's what happens.
He goes back, right, he goes back.
And then the reveal later a little bit later, which is great, especially for those of us who are pet lovers. It was a blank, so they were kind of testing the will of their perspectives to see if they would do the most.
Horrible thing in order to get the job done.
But as you see later when Eggsy goes to Colin Firth's house, he's like, you shot your fucking dog because he has a dog like stuffed in his house and he's like, no, he died of pancreatic cancer after like twelve years. Like they were blanks, you think you'd make you kill a fucking dog, which is the worst, Like This is again one of these things that this movie makes me think about, which is like, what are the worst psychological Like psychological terror is so much more scary to me than like physical terror sometimes.
Oh my god.
And I get another fucking hilarious line where Tara Erkinsin's like looks at the fucking mounted dog in Colin Firth's house and goes, you shot your fucking dog and had it stuffed bru or whatever he said, and it was like, yes, like the idea of that all these stupid kingsmen shot their dogs, just the.
Wave of dog terrorists out there, and then they mount them like trophies in their house, Like this is how I got all this cool spy shit. I gotta kill a fucking dog.
It was.
It was one of the funniest jokes in the movie, honestly for my mone, truly.
Truly fantastic, and I love And this is again like these moments of this film that I love and it makes me laugh because they kind of turn, they turn, then they turn things on their head like they're very unexpected moments and they're very funny jokes, Like there are very funny jokes in this movie.
Then we kind of get to like the crux of the film, Like.
The main conflict is that Valentine, this Samuel Jackson character, has decided to give free cell phone SIM cards to every person on the planet.
Which if you're not, if you're not like you want.
To talk about nefarious shit, someone just comes up to you and is like, here's a free cell phone forever.
I'm like, who did you kill? Or who do I have to kill? Yeah? They happen.
No, I was immediately when that got There's like a commercial where it's say hey, or it was on the news or something.
They show this.
News where it's like he's given away a free SIM card to put in your phones and laptops and all this stuff. And I was like, uh uh, don't fall for it, folks.
This is how they get minimum. At minimum, you're being tracked.
Yes, at maximum, your head's gonna explode, because that's really what they're trying to. Come back here, when you get down to the crux of this film, the reason that Professor Arnold was kidnapped is because he developed this tech that now Valentine is using in these SIM cards, which basically connects to his own network. Like Valentine has his own satellite and his own network, and he can control people with it. He can blow up your head, he can control your violence. He can like turn a switch and flip, like just turn a little knob, flip a switch, and all of a sudden, you're super violent.
Yep.
And his so as he's going around the film, As he goes through the movie, you're seeing him kind of meet with and collect all of these rich, wealthy, political known people in the world. And he's collecting all of them for reasons. We don't know why. You get this princess, this one Scandinavian princess who's like, no, I'm not doing this. Whatever this is, we haven't found out yet. Yeah, So they kidnap her and kind of like, now that she knows the story and the secret of what's going to happen, they have to kidnap her because she says no, So they put her away in this underground bunker. So the crux of the movie then becomes one, figure out what Valentine is doing and two save this princess. Yes right, which again I love these comic book nods that are just thrown on their head. So as they're investigating Galahad, Harry Hart has to go to Kentucky. He's trying to figure out what Valentine's up to. Valentine and Gazelle are outside of this little church in Kentucky with this device and they're like, let's test it out, and then you get what, in my opinion, is the greatest.
Fight scene of the decade.
Yes, Colin Firth in this church and it's one of these like hate filled preacher kind of churches, like the Western Baptist Church. Like it's that kind of place where they're just preaching hate about everyone on the planet. So when they turn this knob and everyone starts getting super violent, whether they have the simcard or not, it is Mayhem. And this scene is what cemented Colin Firth in my mind as the number one fucking stunner. Yeah, Like he went from off the radar to the whole radar for me. He is incredible in this scene.
Well, and I actually, I mean listen, I don't really know.
I didn't I should have done the research to figure out, like was this actually him doing some of these fucking.
Moves some of them?
Yeah, Yeah, I was like, I don't know if this is CGI or if this is like stunt work or whatever, But it looked to me that he was doing a lot of it, kind of the way that we talked about in john Wick, where like, you know, you can see it's Keanto pulling some of this stuff, right, which is like, as a fucking old man, like it doesn't even matter if you're fifty sixty forty, even doing some of that shit is really tough. And I was like, Yo, Colin Firth is doing the most and I'm like, I appreciate. I love seeing old people fight in scenes like I just love it. I'm like, yo, don't get that guy like a stun double. Get him in there, Get him in there and fucking pull some shit.
It was so cool. People fight club.
They got the skills, they've got the wisdom, they have the years of experience, they know how to kick ass.
Get him in there.
I mean, I don't care if they get if the director calls cut and they go, they go. They have to go puff on their asthmund hailer and fucking take like fifty SIPs of water after they do that shit. I was like, yo, if that is Colin Firth, he is my hero. This is awesome.
And he did. He did a lot of the moves. He did a lot of those moves.
I think there are a couple stunt doubles, but he even the most the things that look like they're not even the most absurd things that happen in this scene. There's this one part where he does he's like kind of bent forward and then he stands up and bends all the way back and kind of rotates his body in like a half circle so he can like stab one guy while he's shooting another guy. Just that move of going from bending forward to going to bending back, I'd be done.
I couldn't do that. Oh and then you want made her move around while I'm up there.
No, I've already done the most with my day just by going from sitting to standing.
I also love in action movies this I feel like, I mean, I could be wrong, don't fucking get in my DM's action movie aficionaudos, but like it feels like almost more of a modern and it feels like modern stut work when it comes to action movies, does a lot of this, like I'm going to use one person I've killed to shield me from another person, or like use I'm gonna stab this guy that's coming at me. With a knife and then I'm gonna use that guy's knife to slice somebody else.
And I love that.
It's like using dead people or injured people to fight other people. And I'm like that it happens to John Wick two. But I'm just saying I loved it because that was that was the scene that one was happening, was they was using other people's weapons that they were holding to fight other people.
Exactly, which I goddamn love.
I love even seeing somebody like, oh, you think they're dead on the ground, or maybe they are dead, I'm gonna step on their back, yes, and bend their arm up so I can use their weapon to kill someone.
Like there is a total disregard.
For humanity in these fight scenes where you're using bodies, and again this is part of the therapy.
Why is this so intriguing to me? Well, apparently I need to go with you because I was.
Like, yeah, yes, use that dead guy's face with an knife through it to smash another guy's face.
It is so intense.
It is truly one of the greatest fight scenes of the past fifty years, and I would say the greatest fight scene of the last decade. And I'm even including the Raid in that The Raid has some incredible fight scenes in it, and it's one of my favorite action movies for sure. But this scene is three minutes of compressed brilliance and I cannot even understand the brain that.
Came up with this. It's so good. So movie moves on from there.
Harry Hart doesn't have the SIM card, but he's still affected by this machine, which gives Valentine, you know, all kinds of ideas. But the main thing that happens in this scene is that he survived the Church kills pretty much everyone survives the church and gets shot in the head on the when he leaves, So Harry's out of the rest of the movie. As far as we know, he is dead. Spoiler alert, he's not, but we think he is. I thought that might be the case. I was like, he's too dapper to he's too dapper, he's way too in control of his shit to get just shot in the head after all that. But Eggsy thinking that he's dead is what kind of fuels him to He takes his place, and then he kind of becomes part of.
The Kingsman in a real way.
It is This film is so good and it's so action packed, and you get all the spy stuff and you get everything going on, and then you get to the end.
Oh lord, and that.
I'm leaving a lot of room and I'm skipping a lot of shit because that's how much I have to talk about the end of this movie.
Set it up, then, just set it up so we can really get into this, because all right.
Let me unzip my hoodie here, I'm getting hot. I'm getting hot. I've never had a chance to talk about this before, and I've needed it for years.
This is what this podcast is for.
The setup is this princess has been kidnapped. Eggsy go to get his revenge on Valentine for killing Harry and doing you know, they figure out what's going on with the machine and with the control he has over people through the sim cards. So Eggsy and Merlin go to kick ass. Merlin stays on the plane and kind of is going to try to take down the satellite Eggs He's going to go inside and try to take out the people. After a stunning display of acrobatics and fighting, and it culminates in a fight with old Scissor Legs, Old Girl Scissor Legs, he goes on his way through the fight, he's checking all the little jails, all the cells, and he sees the princess and he slides open her window and he's like, hey, I'm here to save you, and she says, if you save me, I'll let you fuck me in the ass.
Then he does.
He goes in again, does the fight scene, does everything, and then comes back to her cell and the end of the movie is her laying down on her stomach, face down, ass up, and then they close the door, and this is the end of this stunning action movie. The whole thing was a joke about butt sex. Is that what happens at the end of this movie, because let me tell you, when I rewatch it now, I skip that part.
That's how upsetting it is to me. Though.
I'm like, I cannot believe that this whole movie is just a joke about anal sex.
Okay, so what I Okay, I don't even know how to start this. So when when he discovers that she's in this underground bunker, she's like, please rescue me, right, and he's just sort of like, well, I have all this shit I gotta do, so let me just go do that first. I gotta go fucking turn off the machine and kill all these people, right, And she's just like, okay, that's chill.
But as a.
Sort of, you know, a little a little enticement for you to actually come back and get me, right, she says like, we can do it, right, which I was like, okay, random, because I was literally while this was happening, I was literally like going through my mental rolodex of the last two hours that I had just seen in the movie.
Go ahead, right?
Was there a reference to this? Like had anybody mentioned sex and or butt sex at all? And maybe this is like a thing that they're returning to, Like is eggsy a joke for butt sex? I don't know what. How are we at this point? Like somebody tell me why we're here with the princess being like, yo, let's fuck.
Remember who I am? Rescue me?
We can fuck? And so I was like that is so strange. But then the whole thing after, immediately after she says that, she's like, yeah, and we can do it in the butt.
And it looks like literally this scene is like there's a light bulb that goes off in his head.
He's like, oh word, oh cool, Okay, Well, let me go kill these people real quick and I'll be right back to have butt sex.
I was like, what the fuck, what's going on?
First of all, I am only referring to antal sex as eggsy from now on in the in the three times per decade that I will refer to it, That's what I'm calling it.
That's what I'm calling it.
I was like, Yo, I don't know much about British slang, but like this exea is that what I was.
Literally going, What could it be? What's the secret? Why are we here? Why are we at this point of the story?
That is the question, and that is the problem. Why are we here? Why are we here?
We're here because what like this is just the.
Most heterosexual, juvenile in cell fucking shit happening here in this scene. It is like, why did you do this to us? After all of this, they could have ended that movie in so many ways. They have already to this point blown up the heads in a spectacular technicolor display. They have exploded the heads of every rich, wealthy political person, every powerful person on the planet has now been reduced to like just a mess of guts.
And they play the song like the fucking it wasn't the Doctor Strangelove song where it's.
Like bitn spit and it's like people's fucking hands exploding like literally that is like they're like fireworks.
They're exploding like fireworks, and it's.
Like they make such an obvious joke about it, and I was like, oh my god, that is cracking me the fuck up. I mean, I know it's like violent as shit, but I was like, that's funny, right.
And they could have ended it there, yeah, because it's ended it there.
They could have ended it back in Harry's flat with his newspaper wall and we could have seen them because there's a scene when he's talking to Eggsy where you see a row of newspapers kind of pasted up on his wall and he's like, oh, yeah, these are all of our missions. But it's kind of like in that New York Post style headline where you're like, this is fucking weird, like.
Why did this happen?
So it's basically like his cover has been these weird headlines for all the weird shit they've done over the years. It could have ended there and we could have seen, like, what is the newspaper explanation for now? The fact that every powerful person on the planet has exploded, but no, they went with fucking anal sex.
I mean, as a writer, how absurd is this, Because how absurd is it to have just randomly put in this butt sex scenario into this entire story without having it mentioned, were shown or thought about once before.
The effect works because it's shocking, and it's one of those jokes meant to shock and you're like, oh, like it is.
It works.
It's shocking. However, it is also feels so tacked on to me. Yes, as like a joke that two guys were having in a car on the way to a meeting about the movie, and then they just kind of said like, oh yeah, also at the end, we're going to have it be this, and people, all the other men in the fucking room were probably like, yeah, this is great, let's do it. Like it's just such a juvenile thing that I don't get.
I was like, did they not show enough like nakedness at all?
And they were like, well, we do have a mandate to show a bare ass at one point in this movie, and we forgot to do it, So let's just do it real quick. We'll just do a pickup and we'll just tack it on at the end. It's like, I don't know if.
You've ever seen that movie A Scotland Pa No No, which I saw years and years and years ago, but there's something like that in the movie where it's like a very chaste movie and then at the end they just have someone streak by the screen and I think it's so they could get their rating.
Oh wow, way, maybe that's it. Then I don't know, that's crazy.
There's so much murder in this movie that it's definitely gonna be wait at all, it was rated but sex.
For this to make that rating Land.
They did slice a person in half, so they probably already got.
Their rate in half in the first five minutes. And he doesn't just like he's not just slice in half. It's like he's cut.
You think he's fine, and then they pan the camera around and you watch his body slip apart.
The first five minutes.
The worst part for me, honestly was so Tara Egerton shows up at the Valentine Layer and where they were having a party with all these like stupid you know, foreign dignitaries and everybody they had planted with this chip right that blew the fuck up, you know, in that Fourth of July explosion where everyone's heads blew up. Okay, So then after he fucking defeats every motherfucker in the room, he pulls up a bottle of champagne and a couple of glasses, and then he's like he shows up to the fucking bunker or like a rigadang.
Dang, like like he's a big gentleman dude, but like, part of being a gentleman is bringing champagne to somebody right before you penetrate them anally.
I guess the only thing.
That could have made this worse is if he had when he was closing the door, said Manners maketh men. Yes, it's the only thing that could have made this worse. It's so bad.
Or if they had played Marvin Gays Let's get it on, which I feel like they might not have been able to get the rights to. So they just picked another like Sexy Beast song, and I'm.
Like, what the fuck is going on? It is the ultimate confuser.
It is such a tacked on, weird, juvenile joke and what is otherwise a very.
Smart and funny movie.
Oh god, and this is why I wanted to talk about it because I feel insane when I watch it, and when I recommend it to people, I kind of can't. Like, it's almost it's difficult for me to recommend this to people without saying there's a part in the end that almost ruins the movie.
You can stop at this particular part if you want. Yeah, and just the idea that they showed her ass.
Like basically she was like, I'm laying on this bed with no pants on, so you know what's about to happen.
And I'm like, damn. And then it's like credits.
I was, yo, I can see why you've been haunted by this movie four years.
Yes, and it's otherwise, like, this is what also bothers me. I think it's something I want to talk about, which is that this is otherwise a film that empowers women through so many different ways in so many different scenes. Yeah, So even with his mother, Like watching Eggsy's mother be in this abusive relationship, she's protective of her kids. She's doing what she can to to get by. She's not just laying down and taking it. Like she's talks to Eggsy about their situation. You kind of can see the humanity in her. Then you've got Scissor Legs who's like, I exist purely to fuck shit up, and I am the right hand motherfucker to this evil billionaire genius.
Yeah, exactly.
It's like, Yo, that end scene, it's like justice for Scissor Legs.
Man.
She was so cool and so like, you know, she wasn't like where the Loca top and like doing some sexy work. Like she was like, I'm a legit player, Like I go in there, I kill people, I slice them in half. I poke people's eyeballs out with my fucking razor razor blade finger thing like Determinator two cops.
She had one of those pointies pointy things. She has so much metal and she is so metal. Yes, she's a fucking metal badass.
And then even Roxy, it's like they demolish all of the agency they give women in this film with that one goddamn scene, and they reduced this princess character to someone who was previously empowered enough to resist an evil terrorist plot. Yeah, and her way out of that is by using her body.
I mean, justice for Scissor Legs, justice for Roxy shooting a damn dog to.
Get for job. She shot on dogs.
Get for job, and then it was completely ruined by the princess want butt sex.
And there's another thing I asked. I was like, do Swedish people like anal sex?
Is this a joke? Why is this happening? Help me understand. You were stuck on the butts. You were stuck on the butts, and I get it because it comes out of nowhere. You're like, why butts? Why am I now thinking about butts? There hasn't been a butt in this movie. The butts are covered up by jackets, like the savile row tailor is like, okay, let me tailor this jacket and make sure it goes below your butt like they are not. There are no butts mentioned. Everyone's always sitting down, even when they're fighting. There's no focus on butts. It's like out of nowhere.
There was no joke that even suggested that any of the kingsmen were fucking Did I miss you?
I didn't say that.
There's not a single partner in the picture. Nobody has a partner, nobody has like a family. Yeah, there is no indicator. For all we know, they could have been neutered, like there's probably some caunterorizing machine that slices off their dicks and like closes up their fucking vaginas.
There's nothing that indicates they fuck.
Like this whole situation has got me fucking flubbed right now.
Well, also, let's put it this way too.
They give the anal sex scene to the young man, which is why I feel like it's an in cell territory because it's like, you know, young guys get out there and do your thing and take or whatever. Yes, why are we not given the antal sex scene in one of our olds?
Give it to an old?
Maybe Michael Kaye's like yell, bruv I used to have, Like, I don't know, I'm not even gonna I'm not doing that accent.
I'm not doing that Michael Kane accent.
We need to Steve Coogan, Michael Caine impression. That's just about anal.
But this is what I mean.
It's like they put it in such a the whole film goes into a different category because of the whole situation and because of who they have in the situation. And it's like then it's also just about like youth like, but sex is a young man's game.
Do not come in my DMS. I don't want to fucking hear it.
Yeah, I'm very sex positive, but come on, man, give it to an old give me something different.
If you're going with this joke, yes we are.
We are obviously not condemning the act of sex at all. We're just talking about in the setup for this film, the way that it's used comes out of fucking left fucking field, and that's what we're talking about, right, So yeah, I totally agree with you. Like, in the course of the film, did I expect anything like that to have happened at.
The fucking last scene of the movie. Hell no.
And that's why I was like thinking about this shit all night. I was like, what did I just watch? What are the big questions? I was literally like, I need to google interviews of Taron Egerton, maybe he can shed some light on this crazy ending. But now, after having seen it, I can totally understand why you've thought about this for even one day after it came out.
Right years, Yeah, I am so glad we got to break this down. I have never said but sex so much of my entire forty four years of existence.
This podcast is never This is new territory for us, I must say.
I just I just got had to talk about it.
This film is so impressive to me, and then it is almost ruined. And again not because I'm not sex positive. It just comes out of nowhere and I no pun intended, but I will be calling it eggsy for fucking ever.
Now listen, We're we will promote eggsy until the end of time. But in the context of this film kings in the Secret Service a little a little bizarre. To leave it on that note, however, now I want to watch the sequel because not only because of Channy Tates, but now I'm like, well, then where does that end? Do we start the next film with like some more some more butt sex jokes?
How does this go?
So let me just tell you that your boy Channy Tates keeps his pride in this film. He does some wild shit, but he holds on his gentlemanly status if I remember correctly, well.
Listen, I'll be excited to watch it. I will say, I am so glad that you picked this movie, and I'm also just so glad that we have this platform which to dissect shit.
Like this same I'm so grateful, and I'm also grateful to our engineer and our producer who have had this spend the last hour listening to us a butt sex like nine ninety times.
In a row. Grateful for our whole crew right now.
Thanks for going on this journey with us, and to you the listener for also going on this journey with us.
And please, by all means, if you're listening here, then you've got stitch your premium, which is great.
Yep.
You either use promo code SAW to get here or you subscribed and are just paying the five dollars a month, which we just greatly appreciate. Yes, and you can listen to us on our regular feed. On our main feed, we got episodes every Tuesday. And what else you want to tell them about us?
Meil, Well, if you have any theories about this and want to talk about him, you can reach us out. I saw what you did pod at gmail dot com and yeah, follow our socials. I saw pod on Twitter and Instagram. We do have a Facebook, by the way, I've noticed that people have been kind of like engaging with that more so if you are on Facebook, we're there too. But yeah, I absolutely the bonus episodes are my favorite because we get to do this kind of shit and so completely. Yeah, thanks for listening.
And I'm just also super grateful to give you one more movie that is uncomfortable to watch with your mother before you move.
You went out with a damn bang. I certainly did.
I mean, honestly, my mom is such She's so game for this kind of stuff, and I'm so happy that we been able to watch stuff together. But I will say when that part happened in the movie, she laughed, she left the room. I'm really tired, and I'm like, thank god.
She's like, I've already seen this. She knew when to leave. I love it, she knew what was coming. I like it. I like it a lot.
Oh, I'm so so grateful to be doing this with you as always.
Yes, and we'll see you next time. Until next time, Yeah bye, oh bye.
This has been an exactly right production. Our producers Alexis Amrossi, our engineers Analise Nelson. Our theme songs by Tom bry Foegel, artwork by Garrett Ross. Our executive producers are Georgia Hart, Start Caring Till Gareth and Danielle Kramer. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter at I saw pod email us at I saw you did pod at Gmail and please don't forget to listen, subscribe, leave us a review on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you listen a