How a King Emulated a Bond

In a very surprising move, 20th Century Fox (I know its called 20th Century Studios now but I will always call it 20th Century Fox) dropped a new trailer for its delayed Kingsman prequel simply titled The King’s Man which was due to come out back in February but will now hit cinemas on September 17th at least for now.

Firstly I want to say that I really liked this new trailer as well as the previous trailer put out for the film, they both promised a fun ride which Matthew Vaughn knows how to do and thankfully this prequel film feels much more in line with the tone and feel of the first film rather than the second film The Golden Circle which left a lot of fans disappointed.

And that point is one I want to expand on some more as when I look at those 2 films and the series that inspired it mainly the James Bond films they do have a lot in common with those perhaps more than expected.

The first film The Secret Service feels very much in line with the Sean Connery era of the Bond films with its over the top feel, a dashing hero in Colin Firth, lavish but not overly stylish sets in the vein of Dr. No and Goldfinger and Thunderball while also giving you a group of heroes that really could get into danger at very point and if they weren’t careful could easily be killed.

The second film The Golden Circle meanwhile feels much more like a Roger Moore era Bond film with its over reliance on Gadgets, a more cartoonish feel and messy storytelling now don’t get me wrong save for A View to a Kill and The Man with the Golden Gun I like Sir Roger’s films as Bond but the Golden Circle emulates the worst aspects of his time in the role instead of the best and Mr Vaughn couldn’t pull that off in a way that Lewis Gilbert could with the Spy who Loved Me and Moonraker.

And whenever the Bond films reached that point like You Only Live Twice and Moonraker that series knew it was time to go back down to Earth and go back to the roots of the character and his stories to stop it from getting too silly.

And if the 2 Kingsman movies emulated the Connery and Moore films for a new generation of audiences then any new film in the series I felt had to harken towards the Tim Dalton era of the series as short lived as that was which meant stripping away the excesses of the second film (the magic head healer really needs to go) and going back to the harder edge the first film had as did the Dalton era of Bond.

And from the sounds of it this new Kingsman prequel may very well deliver on that promise if the previews for it are anything to go by and we actually get a chance to see this movie on the big screen but for now I live in hope as I love this franchise and want to see it back on top again.

After all, Manners Maketh Man.