2.0 out of 5 star rating<\/span> <\/span> <\/div> <\/div> The Kingsman franchise, it has to be said, is rather an odd beast. When the first film in the series arrived back in 2014, it was a huge hit with critics and audiences alike \u2013 a stylish blend of energetic action and playful comedy that, bar a few missteps, was extremely entertaining from beginning to end. Then came a sequel in 2017, which opened to far less positivity: by playing up the crassest impulses of the first film without offering anywhere near as many thrills, it looked like the franchise had stopped in its tracks just when it should have been taking off.<\/p>\n
Now, four years on, Matthew Vaughn is back with a third entry in the series, albeit one which differs a great deal from both previous instalments. The King\u2019s Man<\/a>, which is released in UK cinemas on Boxing Day, serves as a prequel to those earlier outings, telling the origin story of how the \u2018gentleman\u2019s intelligence agency\u2019 first came into being. The organisation, it turns out, had its roots in the First World War \u2013 and so we follow an assortment of characters as they interact with both real events and completely imagined global conspiracies, meeting a few larger-than-life versions of historical figures along the way,<\/p>\n