Kingsman: The Secret Service is less a spy film than a love letter to the genre written by someone determined to blow it up from the inside. Directed by Matthew Vaughn and released in 2014, the film arrived at a moment when cinematic espionage had grown conspicuously self-serious, and Vaughn built his response around a deceptively simple premise: what if the most dangerous secret agent in the world was an impeccably dressed man from a South London estate who had never been to university? At its core, it is a class fable disguised as a blockbuster, following Gary “Eggsy” Unwin’s journey from a wasted future into the ranks of Kingsman, an elite private intelligence agency that traces its roots, as Harry Hart explains, back to wealthy families who lost their heirs on the battlefields of World War I.
The film’s genius lies in holding two contradictory ideas at once: sincere affection for spy-genre conventions and gleeful willingness to detonate them. Grossing over $414 million worldwide against an $81 million budget, Kingsman proved that audiences were hungry for exactly this kind of irreverence. It launched a franchise, established Taron Egerton as a leading man, and gave Colin Firth one of his most iconic roles in a career nobody expected to include hand-to-hand combat. Beneath the stylised violence and sharp tailoring runs a genuine argument: that heroism is not inherited, breeding is not destiny, and manners, as the film famously insists, maketh man.
Sacrifice Sparks a Legacy
1997, Middle East. A helicopter swoops in on a fortified compound. Four agents storm the place, fight their way through, and capture a prisoner for interrogation. Things go sideways fast when the prisoner activates a hidden grenade on his body. One agent throws himself on it to save the others. He doesn’t make it. The mission leader, Harry Hart (Colin Firth), is devastated. He promises to personally notify his fallen colleague’s family.
Back in London, Harry visits the widow, Michelle Unwin (Samantha Womack), and hands her a medal with a phone number engraved on the back, one she can call anytime with no questions asked. She turns him down flat. She doesn’t want a medal. She wants her husband back. Harry understands. He gives the medal to the couple’s young son, Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton), tells him to hold onto it, and leaves.
17 years later, the Argentine highlands. A professor named James Arnold (Mark Hamill) is kidnapped and held captive. A lone secret agent bursts in and takes out every guard. Just as he finishes, a woman sneaks up from behind and cuts him in half. Her name is Gazelle (Sofia Boutella). She drapes sheets over the bodies, then opens the door for her boss, Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), who strolls in casually. Valentine mentions he gets queasy at the sight of blood, and wants to know who the agent was working for.
The dead agent turns out to be a colleague of Harry’s. They are both part of a top-secret private intelligence agency called Kingsman, which operates out of a tailor shop on Savile Row. Back at HQ, Harry meets with Arthur (Michael Caine) and the rest of the global Kingsman network via virtual meeting. They are mourning the loss of their agent, codenamed Lancelot. Arthur calls for an immediate recruitment process to find his replacement, requiring every current agent to submit a candidate.
Shortly after, Merlin (Mark Strong) briefs the group. Lancelot had been tracking a mercenary group developing a biological weapon, traced them to Argentina, and was killed attempting to rescue Professor Arnold. Strangely, Merlin has footage showing Arnold back on his university campus, acting completely normal. Arthur tells Harry to follow up on the Arnold lead while recruitment gets underway.
Meanwhile, back in London. Eggsy, now a young adult, is being kicked out of the house by his stepfather, Dean (Geoff Bell), a local gang leader who wants the place to himself. Eggsy heads to a cafe and vents to his friends about Dean. Unfortunately, Dean’s crew is at the next table and overhears everything. They get in Eggsy’s face and tell him to leave. Eggsy plays it cool and agrees, but on the way out, swipes the keys to one of their cars.
A Wasted Talent Found
Eggsy and his crew take the car for a joyride, but when the police show up he tells everyone to bail while he takes the fall. He gets hauled into the station, looking at eighteen months. That’s when he remembers the medal Harry gave him as a kid. He calls the number on the back, says he’s in trouble, and hangs up without getting a response.
A little while later, someone bails him out. It’s Harry. Eggsy recognises him immediately as the man who gave him the medal. Harry takes him to a cafe and tells him straight: his father saved Harry’s life and was one of the bravest men he ever knew. It’s a shame to see Eggsy throwing his life away, because by all accounts he’s sharp as hell and a natural athlete.
Mid-conversation, Dean’s thugs show up looking for payback over the stolen car. They tell Harry to get lost, one of them dismissing him as a member of some joke social club. Harry quietly locks the cafe door. Then, using nothing but his umbrella, he dismantles every one of them without breaking a sweat. When the shopkeeper tries to call the police, Harry fires an amnesia dart into his neck and sits back down. He explains calmly that he is in a foul mood because a friend just died, a friend who happened to work alongside Eggsy’s father.
When Harry is about to dart Eggsy too, Eggsy begs him not to, swearing he won’t say a word. Harry believes him. He mentions a tailor shop and says to come find him if he’s interested, then heads out. Eggsy gets home and Dean immediately beats him, demanding to know who stood up for him at the cafe. Eggsy says nothing. What Dean doesn’t know is that Harry had already planted a listening device on Eggsy. Harry hears the beating and calmly warns Dean to back off, then tells Eggsy to head to the tailor shop.
Eggsy tries to leave. Dean’s men chase him, but Eggsy’s parkour skills are something else. He slips away clean and makes it to Kingsman HQ. Inside, Harry pulls him aside and lays it out: raw talent, being wasted. But Harry also sees loyalty in him, and the ability to keep his mouth shut. He offers Eggsy a shot at joining Kingsman. Eggsy says yes.
Harry hits a button and the floor drops them into a lift. As they descend, he gives Eggsy the history. Back in 1849, Kingsman was a tailor shop serving the world’s elite. After World War I, when a wave of wealthy heirs died on the battlefield, their families channelled that grief and influence into something bigger, building an independent, international intelligence agency that operates completely outside of government oversight.
Recruits Enter the Arena
The lift deposits them in a massive underground facility beneath a castle, a hangar lined with military vehicles and aircraft. Harry introduces Eggsy to the other recruits, all candidates put forward to fill Lancelot’s vacancy. Merlin briefs the group and places body bags on each candidate’s bed. This is the most dangerous job in the world, he tells them, and everything learned here stays here. If they breathe a word, they and their families will end up in those bags.
A candidate named Roxanne “Roxy” Morton (Sophie Cookson) tries to reassure Eggsy it’s probably just a scare tactic. Another candidate, Charles “Charlie” Hesketh (Edward Holcroft), clearly from money, sizes Eggsy up and becomes dismissive upon learning he never went to university. Eggsy also meets Amelia (Fiona Hampton), another recruit.
Elsewhere, Valentine is pressing a contact for information about Lancelot, showing them a photo. The contact doesn’t recognise him. Valentine explains that this mystery organisation is trying to stop his plan to “save” the world, which in his view has gone too far downhill to fix any other way. He is in the middle of a very private conversation with a high-ranking American official.
Back at the training facility, the candidates are jolted awake when their bedroom floods with rapidly rising water. Most sprint to the bathroom and breathe through shower hoses. Eggsy, thinking fast, swims to the glass wall on the opposite side, pounds until it shatters, and pulls the others into an adjoining room where Merlin is waiting. First test. Merlin credits Eggsy for spotting the room, but points out they failed to work as a team. One candidate, Amelia, apparently didn’t make it.
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The next day, Harry tracks down Professor Arnold on his university campus and corners him, demanding answers. Arnold says he can’t talk, and then his head explodes. Two armed squads close in on Harry. He drops a grenade and vanishes in the blast.
Valentine is furious. Someone triggered the security chip implanted in Arnold’s head. His aide confirms she has cross-referenced every known intelligence agency in the world and none of them match. Feeling cornered, Valentine tells Gazelle to accelerate production on their device. Back at HQ, the candidates are each assigned a dog to raise and train. Eggsy picks one he thinks is a bulldog. It’s actually a pug. He checks on the recovering Harry, then gets back to it. Elsewhere, Valentine’s company is producing millions of SIM cards, ready for global distribution.
Tests Tighten, Threats Multiply
Harry wakes up and recovers. Valentine, meanwhile, invites the Swedish princess and prime minister to dinner and pitches them his plan. The princess, Lady Sophie (Lily Travers), calls him flat-out crazy and refuses. Outside the room, she tries to get the guards to help her, but Gazelle drops them all and hauls the princess off to join those who have already agreed to Valentine’s terms, each receiving a chip implanted in their head.
Back at HQ, Harry and Eggsy review footage and find the implant chip in Arnold’s head, traced back to Valentine’s company. Eggsy recalls that Valentine has been all over television, promising to give everyone on Earth a free SIM card providing unlimited calls and internet, forever. Harry notices that someone close to Valentine also appears to have an implant, and decides to go undercover and meet Valentine face to face.
The next day, the candidates complete a skydiving exercise. Merlin drops a bomb on them: one of the group doesn’t have a parachute. Eggsy tries to get everyone to link up and share, but one candidate panics and pulls his too early. The remaining candidates chain together and open their chutes one by one until it’s just Eggsy and Roxy. Eggsy tells her to pull hers, she grabs him, and they land safely. Merlin tells them only Eggsy, Roxy, and Charlie passed. Eggsy is furious, since he never even had a parachute. Merlin reaches into his pack and pulls one out. It was there the whole time.
That night, Harry — posing as a major philanthropist — has dinner with Valentine. As he’s leaving, Valentine grows suspicious and slips a nano-tracker into Harry’s drink. He’ll have a day to track his movements. The next morning, Harry debriefs Arthur. All he obtained was a photo of a document mentioning a church in the American South. Arthur also mentions that more high-profile individuals keep disappearing, including the Swedish princess.
Meanwhile, Merlin sends the remaining candidates on an undercover mission. That night, their drinks are spiked. They wake up incapacitated. Eggsy comes to tied to railway tracks and gets interrogated. Who is Harry Hart, and what is Kingsman? He plays dumb. The interrogator claims he killed the other two for not cooperating. A train barrels down the track. Eggsy doesn’t break. The train hits him. He’s fine. Another test. He’s taken to a monitoring room and watches Charlie being interrogated next. Charlie folds immediately and blurts out everything. He’s out. That leaves Eggsy and Roxy.
At Harry’s home, Harry levels with Eggsy: this job is thankless, and if they save the world, nobody will ever know it was them. Elsewhere, Valentine scans his palm to arm his device, which has a biometric lock only he can activate. During the day, Harry takes Eggsy to the tailor shop to be measured for his Kingsman suit, bulletproof naturally. While heading to the fitting room, another customer steps out. It’s Valentine, ordering a suit and mentioning he has a meeting with the Queen. Harry recommends a hat from the shop next door. The hat is bugged, so Harry and Merlin can now listen in on Valentine.
Loyalties Crack Under Pressure
The next morning, Arthur summons Eggsy. The assignment: shoot his dog. Eggsy’s hands shake. He can’t do it. Across the way, Roxy faces the same test. Roxy pulls the trigger. She’s in. Eggsy walks out having failed, steals a taxi, and drives home. He finds his mother with a bruise on her face from Dean. Eggsy snaps and heads straight for Dean and his crew, but mid-ride, the car starts driving itself. Harry is remotely controlling it. He takes Eggsy back to his place and tears into him for walking away over refusing to shoot a dog, then reveals the gun was loaded with blanks. And Amelia, the candidate who apparently drowned in the very first test, is alive and well, working in Kingsman’s tech department. It was never real.
Then Merlin calls. Valentine is making a move at a church. Harry remembers the photograph. He heads straight there, to a rural church in Kentucky. He goes undercover in the congregation. From a security feed, Valentine spots Harry and flips a switch. The SIM cards in everyone’s phones emit a frequency that instantly triggers violent, uncontrollable aggression. Everyone in the church, including Harry, goes berserk. It is an all-out bloodbath.
When it’s over, Harry slowly comes back to himself and walks out. Valentine and his people are waiting for him outside. Without a word, Valentine shoots Harry in the head. Harry drops dead on the spot. Back at HQ, everyone watching through the monitors is gutted. Merlin tells the team to get everything ready. They’re launching tomorrow.
Eggsy goes to Arthur and asks what the plan is. Arthur says they have a recorded confession from Valentine and have handed it to the authorities, then invites Eggsy to share a toast in Harry’s honour. Eggsy notices something off about Arthur’s neck, a chip. He switches the glasses without Arthur noticing. Arthur admits he has been working with Valentine all along, then reaches for his poison pen to finish Eggsy off. It backfires. Arthur goes down, poisoned by his own drink. Eggsy pries the chip from Arthur’s neck and finds his phone counting down to zero hour.
Three Against the World
Eggsy brings the chip and the phone to Merlin. Now it’s just the three of them — Eggsy, Merlin, and Roxy — because they don’t know whose side anyone else is on. Merlin lays out the plan. Roxy will ascend and destroy one of Valentine’s satellites so he can’t broadcast the signal, while Eggsy infiltrates Valentine’s underground bunker disguised as Arthur, locates a connected laptop, and hacks into the network so Merlin can shut the system down from the inside.
Meanwhile, Valentine’s allies, including heads of state and other powerful figures, are filing into his secret bunker. Merlin also determines that the chip from Arthur’s head can block the SIM signal. What nobody outside knows is that the SIM cards can also be detonated at Valentine’s will. Roxy is lifted to the edge of the atmosphere via a high-altitude balloon and takes aim at Valentine’s satellite. Eggsy suits up in his Kingsman gear and heads for the mountain entrance.
Inside the bunker, Eggsy spots a government official online using the local Wi-Fi, hacks in, and gives Merlin access to the entire network. High above, one of Roxy’s balloons is hit and she struggles, but she fires her rocket and the satellite goes down. Inside, Eggsy’s cover is blown by Charlie, whose family is among Valentine’s followers. Eggsy makes a run for it. Valentine, furious, pushes the timeline forward. Two minutes until launch.
Just before zero, Roxy’s rocket finds its mark and Valentine’s first satellite is destroyed. But Merlin hits a wall: the system has biometric security he can’t crack remotely. They’re going to need Valentine’s hand off that console. Eggsy gets back on the plane. Merlin tells him he has to re-enter the bunker and prevent Valentine from reaching his equipment. Eggsy surveys the weapons locker and picks up an umbrella.
Inside, Valentine already has a backup satellite spinning up. Eggsy re-enters and gets surrounded, with enemies closing in from both sides. Outside, Merlin’s jet is taking fire too. Then Eggsy has an idea. Can Merlin remotely trigger the implants in Valentine’s people? Merlin says yes. He hits enter. Every implant, in Valentine’s operatives and his powerful allies around the world, explodes simultaneously.
From behind Eggsy, the Swedish princess calls out, terrified. He tells her he’ll save the world first and come back for her. She promises him a very special reward if he does. Valentine, unfazed, gets his backup satellite online and hits the button again. Across the globe, chaos erupts.
Eggsy charges at Valentine and shoots him, stalling him briefly, but Gazelle drops down and the two engage in a ferocious fight. Eggsy takes a hit from her blade leg. Poisoned. He staggers, tears off one of her blade legs, and hurls it at Valentine. Valentine goes down. Dead. The signal cuts out. The world snaps back to normal.
Eggsy grabs two glasses and a bottle, and heads for the Swedish princess. What happens next, the film leaves to the imagination. He is now an official Kingsman agent. He visits his mother, who is with Dean in a cafe. Eggsy invites her to come live with him, since he has money now and a real life to offer her. Dean, because he is Dean, can’t help himself and starts mouthing off. Eggsy locks the cafe door. He sends Dean sprawling with his umbrella.
