Disclaimer: This article does contain spoilers of The King’s Man.

The King’s Man came out in theaters on Dec. 22, 2021. It was directed by Matthew Vaughn and is a prequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017). This movie was pretty easy to follow. Even if you had never learned about WWI, you would be able to follow along. This movie is Rated R, and though it received only 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, I thought that it was a great movie.

Having just learned about World War I in my modern world history class, this movie was such a great visual. I was impressed with how accurate the movie was to history. Indeed, there were some differences such as the portrayal of the Archduke’s assassination and the outcome of the war. Revolving around the assassination, how the leaders in WWI reacted, and a dad’s humble wish to keep his only son from entering the war, I was able to learn many things through the movie that the textbook could never have pictured. 

The movie’s cast included Ralph Fiennes, as the Duke of Oxford, Harris Dickinson as Conrad, the Duke’s son, and Rhys Ifans as Rasputin. Although I thought the acting could’ve been better, I do think that the movie’s villains, Rasputin, Morton, and the people operating under Morton, were successful at acting evil. For example, when Rasputin was shown, he looked so creepy that I could finally understand why the Russians were so mad at Tsarina Alexandra for allowing him to live with her.

The plot twist at the end wasn’t a giant shock, but it provided a good sense of change. 

Two Arcadia High School students provided their thoughts on the movie. 

“I thought The King’s Man was very intense but also funny,” said freshman Snigdha Boynipalli. “Overall, it was very unique and different from all the other Kingsman movies,” 

Freshman Charlie Zhu had other opinions. 

“This movie is not bad nor good,” he said. “The film’s villains are flat, pompous, and not very clever. The duke’s exploration of the ‘gentleman spirit’ may have made interesting contrasts in imagery… but it doesn’t add any more depth to the film.” 

The King’s Man is a movie you won’t want to miss.  

Photo courtesy of Markus Winkler