So far what we’ve seen of The King’s Man, Matthew Vaughn’s prequel to his Kingsman series, hasn’t looked very Kingsman-y. The prim first trailer is even nearly indistinguishable from that of Sam Mendes’ forthcoming thriller 1917, also set circa World War I. The latest one corrects that. It’s action-packed, if not as over-the-top silly as its modern day-set brethren.
This latest one basically picks up where the first left off, with Ralph Fiennes’ Duke of Oxford, a secret agent, introducing young Harris Dickinson to their weaponized fold. There are plenty of gun battles and explosions and even sword fights, but we also get more of a glimpse of the other team members, played by Djimon Hounsou and Gemma Arterton. The plot finds our heroes battling a supergroup of historical tyrants, one of whom is Rhys Ifans’ sure-to-be-hammy Rasputin.
This is a bold move for a franchise, moving backwards and ditching its main cast. Taron Egerton mentioned last year that he’s not in this third entry of the series that made his name, although it remains to be seen if he, much less Colin Firth, will file a cameo. But honestly, having our gentlemen/-women not so gently battling Czar Nicholas II’s spooky mystic sounds even better than them fighting Julianne Moore.
The King’s Man is out February 12 of next year.
