Kingsman: The Secret Service

From its stylish action sequences to its high-tech gadgetry to its dry sense of humor, Kingsman: The Secret Service plays like a big-budget James Bond tribute band.

That’s because while this slick espionage thriller has an abundance of visual flair and cool fight scenes, its convoluted screenplay reduces it to a wannabe display of spectacle over substance.

The film chronicles the titular top-secret London spy organization as it seeks to replace one of its members lost in the line of duty. Top agent Harry (Colin Firth) convinces his boss (Michael Caine) that an energetic hopeful named Eggsy (Taron Egerton) is perfect for the job, and submits him to the group’s grueling program for trainees.

However, while Eggsy is jumping through hoops in an effort to imitate Harry, the agency latches on to a perilous mission to stop Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), whose high-tech plot for world domination includes using SIM cards to rid the globe of overpopulation. Naturally, Eggsy wants to join the effort.

In large part, Kingsman is a coming-of-age adventure, and Egerton is a charismatic newcomer whose character flashes an offbeat charm and provides the audience with a window into the film’s idiosyncratic world.

It’s best just to watch all the amusing visual fireworks staged by director Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) and not think too hard about the script he adapted from a comic book with frequent collaborator Jane Goldman. It suffers from thin plotting, a cartoonish villain (with Jackson adding a ridiculous lisp), and half-hearted stabs at political commentary.

At any rate, the derivative story of international intrigue just serves as a bridge between the action sequences, including a handful of brutal fights with innovative weaponry and frequent uses of slow motion for bone-crunching effect. A brawl in a hillbilly church set to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird” is an unhinged highlight.

The film generates some intermittent suspense and maintains a breezy sense of fun, even if its attempts at cleverness are sometimes strained. Firth proves himself as an action star, while Mark Hamill shows up with a British accent for a small role as a kidnapped professor.

What begins as a witty satire gradually loses momentum as the quirky humor gives way to the logically deficient plot. Yet as a transparent attempt to launch a franchise, it isn’t necessarily doomed by a lackluster debut.

Rated R, 128 minutes.