Upon first glance, Kingsman: The Secret Service looks like an outdated, outlandish attempt to reinvigorate the action spy genre that saw Pierce Brosnan fail miserable as his final appearance as the famous spy-agent James Bond in The World is Not Enough. Since 2005, thanks to the likes of Martin Campbell and Christopher Nolan, two directors that took two very different iconic action figures, Batman and James Bond, and injected a much needed, gritty, dark, reality-based foundation to these characters and their overall narratives, over-the-top action has long been expired. In the last decade, what has arisen, is a very dark and realistically twisted take on many action icons, both in the superhero genre and the action hero genre, that allows the cartoonish elements of these characters to fade, and the realistic to rise in popular and rewarding box office results.  Continue reading