Kingsman: The Secret Service

(Image credit: © Twentieth Century Fox 2015)

Starring Colin Firth as an urbane toff, this cocky spy spoof fizzes with tongue-in-cheek humour and larky ultra-violence

Starring Colin Firth as an urbane toff, this cocky spy spoof fizzes with tongue-in-cheek humour and larky ultra-violence.

Brace yourselves as ultra-cool Firth transforms Taron Egerton's south London hoodie into a debonair agent for the Kingsman secret service, while striving to foil the megalomaniac schemes of Samuel L Jackson's lisping telecommunications billionaire.

The team behind Kick-Ass (comic-book author Mark Millar, director Matthew Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman) sometimes push things too far, but the performances are spot on.

Jackson's hip hop-style attired tycoon is a hoot and Egerton has a winning swagger. Michael Caine and Mark Strong provide entertaining support, and Sofia Boutella's sleekly lethal henchwoman and her razor-sharp prosthetic legs are a cut above, too.

Best of all, though, is Firth, dispatching a pub-load of thugs with his brolly and cutting an immaculately well-tailored dash with panache.