PLOT

During a mission in the Middle East in 1997, probationary secret agent Lee Unwin sacrifices himself to protect his superior, Harry Hart, from an explosion. Hart, blaming himself for Lee's death, returns to London to give Lee's widow, Michelle, and her young son Gary "Eggsy" a medal engraved with an emergency assistance number.

Seventeen years later, Eggsy is a stereotypical chav, having dropped out of training for the Royal Marines despite his intelligence and talents for both gymnastics and parkour.[9][10] After getting arrested for stealing a car, Eggsy calls the number. Hart arranges his release and explains that he is a member of Kingsman, a private intelligence service founded by British elite who lost their heirs in World War I and put their money towards protecting the world; the organization is named for the tailor shop that clothed them in Savile Row, which they now use as a front for their bases. Hart, code name "Galahad", explains there is a position available, as agent "Lancelot" was killed by the assassin Gazelle while trying to rescue university professor James Arnold from kidnappers. Eggsy becomes Hart's candidate.

Merlin discovers that Professor Arnold is working as though nothing has happened. Hart attempts to interrogate him, but a microchip in Professor Arnold's neck explodes, killing him. The detonation signal is traced to a facility owned by Gazelle's employer Richmond Valentine, an Internet billionaire and philanthropist who has offered everyone in the world SIM cards that grant free cellular and Internet connectivity. Hart, impersonating as a billionaire philanthropist, meets Valentine face-to-face.

Other candidates are eliminated through dangerous training tests run by Kingsman's technical support operative "Merlin", until only Eggsy and Roxy, a candidate Eggsy befriended, are left. Eggsy refuses to complete the final test—shooting a Pug puppy he raised during the training process, and Roxy is named the new "Lancelot". Hart learns of Valentine's connection to an obscure hate group's church in Kentucky, and travels there, wearing glasses containing a video transceiver. As Eggsy watches, Valentine activates the SIM cards in the church, triggering a signal that causes the parishioners to become murderously violent. Hart's spy training leaves him as the only survivor. Outside the church Valentine explains what happened before shooting Hart in the face, apparently killing him.

Eggsy returns to Kingsman headquarters and finds that Chester "Arthur" King, Kingsman's leader, has a scar on his neck just like Professor Arnold's. King reveals that Valentine plans to transmit his "neurological wave" worldwide via satellite network, believing the resulting "culling" of most of the human race will avert its extinction via global warming. Only those Valentine has chosen will be unaffected. King tries to kill Eggsy with a poisoned drink, but Eggsy switches glasses with King, who poisons himself.

Eggsy, Merlin and Roxy set out to stop Valentine. Roxy uses high-altitude balloons to destroy one of Valentine's satellites and break up the network, but Valentine secures a replacement. Merlin flies Eggsy to Valentine's base, where he masquerades as King. Eggsy is discovered by a failed Kingsman recruit, Charlie Hesketh, leading to both Eggsy and Merlin being cornered. On Eggsy's suggestion, Merlin activates the implanted chips' failsafe, killing almost everyone with a chip. Valentine activates the signal, triggering worldwide pandemonium. Eggsy kills Gazelle and uses one of her sharpened prosthetic legs to impale Valentine and kill him, stopping the signal and ending the threat. Afterward, he shares a sexual encounter with Tilde, Crown Princess of Sweden, who was abducted by Valentine.

In a mid-credits cutscene, Eggsy, now the new "Galahad", offers his mother and half-sister a new home away from his abusive stepfather, who is knocked unconscious in the same way that Harry earlier knocked out a gangster.

CAST

Colin Firth as Harry Hart / Galahad

Samuel L. Jackson as Richmond Valentine

Mark Strong as Merlin

Taron Egerton as Gary "Eggsy" Unwin / Galahad.

Michael Caine as Chester King / Arthur

Sophie Cookson as Roxanne "Roxy" Morton / Lancelot

Sofia Boutella as Gazelle

Samantha Womack as Michelle Unwin

Geoff Bell as Dean Baker

Edward Holcroft as Charles "Charlie" Hesketh

Mark Hamill as Professor James Arnold

Jack Davenport as James Spencer / Lancelot

Hanna Alström and Bjørn Floberg appear as Crown Princess Tilde of Sweden, and Swedish Prime Minister Morten Lindström, respectively. Jack Cutmore-Scott portrays Rufus Saville, and Lily Travers portrays Lady Sophie. Jonno Davies played Lee Unwin, Eggsy's father and a former Kingsman candidate who sacrificed himself to save Hart. Nicholas Banks, Nicholas Agnew, Rowan Polonski and Tom Prior portrayed, respectively, Digby Barker, Nathaniel, Piers and Hugo Higins, the other four Kingsman candidates. Fiona Hampton played Amelia, a Kingsman employee who masquerades as a candidate in order to "die" during the first test. Richard Brake played the interrogator during the penultimate test, Ralph Ineson the police interviewer after Eggsy's arrest, whereas Corey Johnson starred as a fanatic church leader, and Velibor Topić portrayed the biggest goon in the bar fight scene. Tobias Bakare and Theo Barklem-Biggs play Eggsy's friends Jamal and Ryan.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

based on the comic book series Kingsman, created by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar