After he directed 2011’s terrific X-Men: First Class, I felt disappointed Matthew Vaughn didn’t get the chance to helm its follow-up, 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. This didn’t leave Vaughn totally out in the cold, though, as he took this opportunity to make 2015’s James Bond-styled Kingsman: The Secret Service.

A prologue set in 1997 introduces us to a British secret spy organization called “Kingsman”. During an interrogation, a terrorist pulls the pin on a grenade, and apprentice agent Lee Unwin (Jonno Davies) sacrifices himself to save his colleagues.

This leaves Lee’s wife Michelle (Samantha Womack) widowed and his young son Gary (Alex Nikolov) without a father. Kingsman Harry Hart (Colin Firth) – known by the code name “Galahad” – can’t give details of Lee’s secret life to Michelle, but he does provide her with a medallion that includes a number to call if she ever needs special help. Michelle passes this to little Gary.

We fast-forward to meet Gary as a young adult better known as “Eggsy” (Taron Egerton). He lives a semi-delinquent life and tends to run with the wrong crowd, which gets him into trouble with local goons.

When this lands him in jail, Eggsy remembers the phone number on the medallion and calls it. In short time, Galahad arrives and gets Eggsy out of the clink. Galahad also demonstrates remarkable fighting skills when confronted by the thugs who threaten Eggsy.

Galahad recruits the young man to try out for a vacancy in the Kingsman ranks. We follow Eggsy’s path as well as a worldwide threat posed by technology mogul Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson).

At the start of this review, I bemoaned the fact that Vaughn didn’t get to direct the 2014 X-Men film. I still wish that he’d made Days of Future Passed, as I think he could’ve made it much more interesting than Bryan Singer did, but at least Kingsman acts as a good consolation prize.

Though First Class came between the two films, Kingsman evokes stronger comparisons with Vaughn’s 2010 flick Kick-Ass. Both Kick-Ass and Kingsman embrace a gleefully over the top tone, and both walk a fine line between spoof and homage.

I think Kingsman reflected Vaughn’s growth as a director, for it offers a much more fluid and entertaining experience than Kick-Ass did. I liked Kick-Ass but thought it lacked consistency and felt like something of a missed opportunity.

The same doesn’t hold true for the wild, witty and wacko Kingsman. While it works from the Bond template, it goes into a much more crazed world, one that earns its “R” rating. Kingsman gets pretty graphic at times, and that means it won’t be for everyone.

If you can get past the gruesome moments, Kingsman turns into a total winner. It works as both a spoof and a straight action flick, and it even manages to turn a pretty trite “origin” story into something interesting.

Eggsy’s training lacks much creativity but the movie handles the scenes with enough spark and aplomb to make them fun nonetheless. No, we never doubt that Eggsy will become a Kingsman, but we still enjoy the journey.

The cast helps. I never thought I’d buy Firth as an action hero, but he does nicely here and feels totally believable as Galahad. The scene in which he takes on goons at a pub delights and gives us a great view of Firth as lethal agent.

Others disagree, but I think the movie uses Jackson well. I don’t feel like we get too much of him, so as goofy as he plays his part, he doesn’t wear out his welcome.

I also think it’s fun to see him play a role that doesn't feel like his usual "cocky badass". Jackson offers a clever twist on the traditional Bond villain and becomes an asset to the story.

Speaking of assets, Vaughn features music to remarkable effect. The presentation of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird" during one action sequence dazzles, and we also get other strong uses of source songs. These could’ve been cutesy or annoying, but instead they benefit the movie.

My only complaint about Kingsman? Its trailers gave away too much of the fun.

This is such a delightful movie that it’s a shame to know what you’ll see. I don’t know if Kingsman is my favorite film from 2015, but it’s a contender.

Kingsman: The Secret Service appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. This was a mostly appealing presentation.

Sharpness usually worked fine. A handful of wider shots leaned a little soft, but the majority of the flick boasted solid delineation.

I saw no jaggies or shimmering, and edge haloes failed to mar the image. Print flaws also didn’t appear.

Here’s a shocker: Kingsman opted for a palette with an obvious teal and orange push. That said, these tones looked less garish than usual, and HDR gave the tones a little added oomph.

Blacks showed good depth and darkness, while low-light shots appeared smooth and clear. Whites and contrast received a mild boost from HDR. Nothing here dazzled but the 4K still looked fine.

I also felt happy with the solid DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack of Kingsman. Despite the movie’s billing as an action movie, it didn’t come with a ton of chances for auditory theatrics – at least not until the third act. The first two-thirds of the movie focused so much on character that they didn’t bring out a ton of dynamic action pieces.

As the movie progressed, though, the soundscape kicked into higher gear. These sequences used all the channels in an active, involving manner and created a good feel for the material.

Audio quality was also positive. Music sounded lively and full, while effects delivered accurate material.

Those elements showed nice clarity and kick, with tight low-end. Speech was always distinctive and concise, too. This mix worked well for the film.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the original Blu-ray? Both came with identical audio.

The 4K boasted superior accuracy, colors and blacks. However, this didn’t turn into a tremendous upgrade, as improvements remained fairly subtle. While I preferred the 4K, it didn’t blow away the Blu-ray.

No extras appear on the 4K disc itself, but we get a mix on the included Blu-ray copy. That disc’s major component comes from a six-part documentary called Kingsman: The Secret Service Revealed.

All together, this runs one hour, 31 minutes and 41 seconds as it provides comments from writer/director Matthew Vaughn, comic book creator/writer/executive producer Mark Millar, writer Jane Goldman, editor Eddie Hamilton, property master David Cheeseman, supervising armourer Damian Mitchell, costume designer Arianne Phillips, 1st AD 2nd unit Joe Geary, stunt performer Rick English, fight arranger Damien Walters, comic book creator/artist/executive producer Dave Gibbons, and actors Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Sofia Boutella, Mark Hamill, Nicholas Banks, Jack Davenport and Sophie Cookson.

“Revealed” looks at the film’s origins and development, story/character areas and aspects of the source comic, cast and performances, Vaughn’s style, weapons and other props, costumes, stunts and action, and editing.

“Revealed” seems less complete than I’d expect for such a long program. For instance, we learn little about music and effects, even though both play a prominent role in the film.

Those odd omissions aside, “Revealed” delivers an informative and entertaining piece. It touches on a lot of useful areas and does so with candor and clarity. These turn it into a valuable program.

We also get Galleries. These split into three areas: “Behind the Scenes” (51 shots), “Sets” (24) and “Props” (39). All three provide good material, but “Sets” and “Props” work best since they let us get closer looks at those domains.

The disc opens with ads for Spy, Unfinished Business and X-Men: Days of Future Past – The Rogue Cut.

Sneak Peek adds promos for Taken 3, The Marine 4: Moving Target and Before I Go to Sleep. We also get the trailer for Kingsman.

A giddy, violent ride, Kingsman: The Secret Service presents a dynamic take on the “gentleman spy” genre. The movie succeeds as both spoof and straight action flick, one that presents a consistently exciting journey. The 4K UHD brings us good picture and audio as well as an interesting documentary. Kingsman packs a lively punch.

To rate this film, visit the prior review of KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE