True, but on the other hand, she was never sexualized the way female characters in these types of thrillers often are. No skintight catsuits, no lingering shots of her ass or boobs. And while she and Eggsy became close, their relationship was platonic and collegial. The two of them saved the class in the flooding test - him with force, and her with cleverness. I thought that was a nice change.
It’s the accent. For a long time Americans spoke English and villains of whatever nationality spoke English with a English accent, mostly an upper class one. It was shorthand to let us know they were foreign without putting us to the trouble of reading subtitles. After a few decades of this we just became conditioned to think of the upper class English accent as belonging to a villain, and there you go. Plus, British actors work cheap compared to Americans.
Oh and really, Michael Caine de-knighted? A career that encompasses Jaws the Revenge, On Deadly Ground, and Bewitched is sullied by Kingsman: The Secret Service? Talk about straining at gnats.
I took it as being similar to Samuel L Jackson’s character, in that they had the chip to protect them from the ‘psychotic’ tone, but it lacked the self-destruct functionality to it.
I thought the OP was going to rant that the rating was too low. I loved the movie. Yeah, with a few caveats, but love nonetheless.
Me, too. Just saw it last night. Some great action sequences, and Eggsy was a charismatic and sympathetic action star. Firth was terrific (esp. the pub fight), as was Strong as Merlin, the gadget guy. Some clever Arthurian overtones. I rolled my eyes at the colorfully exploding heads and concluding anal-sex joke, and was sorry to have Firth’s character die. I suppose they can implausibly bring him back for a sequel, though - the whole movie was a 'way out-there spy fantasy.