WWI is so far in the distance that you can make real life political figures fun Easter Eggs. "That's Hitler- he's more important in the sequels!"
'Imperialism bad, but it is super tempting' is genuinely the main theme of the film. As a WWI moron :whywhywhywhywhy: -Please tell me why the film's bad
the first thing about it is that the plot reads like a fever dream by someone ranting on the bus about how the Scottish caused WW1. one scene in particular contains a lot of condensed stupidity namely the scene where Lenin only does the soviet union cause some random goat farmer told him too (it's frankly not clear why any of these important people listen to this dude)
the film also has a fundamental misunderstanding of the fact that bringing more people into WW1 is the opposite of saving lives. (it also is a film about WW1 with no mention of France whatsoever which is just the cherry on top of the stupidity)
cinematically the film feels like it has two directors who can't decide if violence is fun and camp or gritty and horrible
also the film tries to both sides the invention of concentration camps
Yeah spending a lot of time with a pacifist main character in a action film renowned for its enjoyably OTT violence definitely had "When are we getting to the fireworks factory' vibes
The King's Man is actually a prequel
to the movie The King's Speech
no i will not explain
King George is in it. Huge easter egg for the King's____ Cinematic universe.
Honestly it’s a fun film. For a series that got its start any going “fear not world, neoliberalism imperialism is over! Us classic aristocratic British imperialists are here to save the day!” And who’s second entry’s point was so awful I really wasn’t expecting it to be SO CRITICAL of aristocracy, imperialism , or war in general. That tench run scene and it’s conclusion are really well done. I never thought I’d see the Boer Wars concentration camps accurately depicted in a film. Let alone a big budget action one that has Voldermort swordfight Rasputin.
As for the IRL history shit and the villains in general, it’s hilarious to me honestly. It’s not just Hitler BTW, they fucking retconed Kitchner’s death as well. And going by their discussion of the war the entire country of France just doesn’t exist in the Kingman timeline. Also the for the Zimmerman telegram stuff view it more as a desperate Hail Mary by a really dumb foreign relations council for Germany. Mexico was in a civil war at the time and the Mexican Government concluding there was literally no way they could go to the war with the US. Also Wilson always wanted to enter the war or at least sided with Britain and France over Germany since he saw an authoritarian as the dominant power in the world as a death blow for democracy and world peace . Wilson was a shit racist but he did have some strangely noble goals for a US President (granted as long as it benefited America’s place as a global power and capitalist interests but hey America is gonna America) Also why Wilson did have an affair it wasn’t with the women in the film. Who you should DEF look up because her IRL life is fascinating.
As for the Hitler stuff and the villains in general. Well remember its A Hollywood film, of course they are
spoiler
going to both sides Lenin and have him be in the same evil society as Rasputin and the dude who IRL was Hitler’s political mentor
The handshake at the end has me laughing so much.
In conclusion:
Soils 7/10 for me the plot wasn’t the best but it had fun action, A great performance from Ralph Fiennes (who looked like he needed a hug whole time which his character did) there should have been more Rasputin and goats.
Wilson always wanted to enter the war or at least sided with Britain and France over Germany
Wilson explicitly stated that the US was at war with Germany on their own and refused any cooperation with Britain or France. Also not entering WW1 was literally Wilson's only good decision and it's ridiculous to call WW1 about authoritarianism it was a stupid argument among aristocrats about nothing
yes that would have been better but entering the war earlier would have been worse than what he did
Once in the war yes he did but that was political shit. We have private letter of him talking about how he hopes France and Great Britain win for the sake of democracy and American world power.
Note how I never said the First World War was about authoritarianism I don’t believe it and frankly the movie doesn’t either showing by how far they go out of their way to make the kings look like shit (well the non British ones at least) the war was always about petty imperialism coming hime to roost. Also Leauge of Nations And the guaranteed autonomy of ethnic groups from imperial Powers were also good shit Wilson did. As well as gave us income tax and the Clayton act.
I am in no way defending the shit heel racist fuck that he was. I am saying that he is one of the better presidents and that fact says a lot about this shit settler nation that is the US
Yeah showing concentration camps as an opening were pretty fucking ballsy lol. I assumed it was a reference, but you mentioning the telegram being real- I thought it was all Kingsman stuff- I'm so embarrassed to learn about history through a film that has Rasputin do a fight while kossack dancing. (also was Rasputin Bi- or is that a case of Hitler being accused of every fetish under the sun because who's gonna argue with making salacious rumours about a hated man?) Also did Wilson even have an affair- and blackmail?
Yeah I enjoyed Fiennes being pacifist, calling out his ancestors as only being considered 'civilised' because they were able to through their rape and pillaged of the east. A bit more nuanced and maybe progressive(ish) than Kingsman 2's "Drug users bad"
I think there were definite rumours of Rasputin being bi/gay but like so much info about the guy its hard to know whats fact, slander or self mythologizing.
Insane they made the main baddie be a politically motivated scot (wtf lol) instead of ballet-infused fighting Rasputin
Wilson did have an affair yes. Theres a lot of data supporting it
The first one is a kind of loving tribute to cold war spy movies like James Bond and Harry Palmer. A lot of those movies end with the protagonist having reward sex with an objectified woman.
What if James Bond getting with a woman at the end of the film lingered a bit longer so we saw how crude he is was my vibe.
The sequel has a POV shot of a finger blast from the fingers perspective- lol
That's interesting, I kinda viewed it as how behind the debonair aesthetic, these are crude people who commit a psychotically high amount of violence and when push comes to shove, will happily receive sex from some woman who's been kidnapped first chance they get.
I mean, the fingering scene in the second film definitely gives credence to your point though, they definitely are just laughing at this shit
Its more then that even...its also a sort of passing of the torch/commentary on the transition of the spy genre from Sean Connery's Bond to Daniel Craig (or even Jason Bourne for that matter).
The point of the movie is basically a buddy film about the old school well groomed British gentleman era spy played by Collin Firth getting to train and work with the grittier more grounded and working class operator/commando agent build played by Taron Egerton. Both types of spies would objectify women and get the girl in the end...but Eggsy is unbred and uncouth and thus he gets anal.
Gross and problematic? Definitely. There was a thought behind it though.
