1) Kingsman: The Secret Service
If the thought of Colin Firth starring as an eloquent secret agent with a ruthless set of combat skills and swanky gadgets wasn’t stunning enough, the fact that the whole premise for Kingsman: The Secret Service has roots in the comic book world may well raise a few eyebrows instead.
Writers Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons penned the spy comic series as recently as 2012, and director Matthew Vaughn – a man who is all too familiar with the colorful comic book world, having steered Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class – promptly hopped aboard the film adaptation when it was green-lit at the end of that same year.
Huge actors occasionally hit a point when they are prepared to  step out of the comfort zone that’s performed as a magnet for awards. Without knowledge of the comic book world, it might be easy to mistake Kingsman as a vehicle exclusively written for Firth to re-tune his image and showcase his willingness to try his hand at action-comedy. In reality, this goofball espionage flick does have a strong place in print, and whilst the film adaptation doesn’t faithfully recreate everything about Millar and Gibbons’ comic book, it pays tribute to its source material by keeping the same sense of kooky humor that made the novel such a page-turner.
The stars all shine, the action is slick, and for the most part, the whole thing is a hell of a lot of fun. It’s not a carbon copy of its comic book origins by any means, but Vaughn is a safe pair of hands when it comes to comic book-style movies, and pretty much everyone should find something to like about Kingsman.
