There’s a lot of fun moments here. The movie really is just a modern-day take on the classic James Bond spy movie tropes. Some gags work better than others.
The real shining star here is Colin Firth who absolutely owns every scene he’s in. In fact, he’s such a force in this that [SPOILER] when he is gone later in the film, it loses huge amounts of momentum.
Newcomer Taron Egerton is also quite good as the young lead in the film and the chemistry between him and Colin Firth is solid.
Sam Jackson provides tons of laughs as a lisping megalomaniac bad guy. And it’s nice to see some fun twists in the third act from the likes of Michael Cain and Mark Strong.
Where the film really breaks down is in the pacing. It’s about 30 minutes too long. The third act drags heavily as we are treated to endless shootouts, explosions, and mayhem that becomes tiresome the more it drags on. That being said, I was entertained for most of the running time and it’s worth seeing just for Colin Firth’s performance if nothing else.