THE KING'S MAN

UK, 2021, 131 minutes, Colour.

Ralph Fiennes, Harris Dickinson, Gemma Arterton, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Charles Dance, Rhys Ifans, Daniel Bruel, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Alexandra Maria Lara, Alexander Shaw, Valerie Pachner, Ron Cook, Alison Steadman, August Diehl, David Kross, Stanley Tucci.

Directed by Matthew Vaughan.

If you saw the previous two adventures focusing on The King’s Man and the Saville Row gentlemen’s shop which covers the behind-the-scenes espionage and action, the prospect of watching a film about the origins of this organisation is probably top of your list.

Whether it will stay in the top of the list is another matter! There is a lot to entertain. There is a lot of action. In fact, there is a lot of early 20^th century history and World War I. But, it is a mixum-gatherum of all kinds of ingredients, many serious, many humorous, many satirical, and many, many, far-fetched and beyond.

The tone is well set in a prologue during the Boer War, the visit by the Duke of Oxford, his wife and son, representing the Red Cross, to a concentration camp, managed by General Kitchener. The Duke of Oxford is played by Ralph Fiennes, very uppercrust, very serious, important at the beginning but when he has to lighten up (understatement) Ralph Fiennes stays very serious, if not solemn, even at times with a bowler hat like John Steed whom he played in the remake of The Avengers. There is a sniper outside the camp with dire consequences for the Duke and his further protectiveness towards his son, Conrad.

So far, so interesting. 12 years later, the eve of World War I, the grand Duke in the Balkans, plots for his assassination and plunging Europe into war. But, while we see the three cousins, grandsons of Queen Victoria, playing when they are young, but great hostilities as they grow older, and all now played by Tom Hollander, we see the Kaiser is rather idiotic, the Tsar under the influence of Rasputin, and George V as very, very serious.

The first task is to protect the grand Duke which means the Duke of Oxford and Conrad (Harris Dickinson), now 18 and eager to flex his muscles and move from his father’s over-protectiveness, travelling to Sarajevo, saving the grand Duke at first, then his assassination.

But, the value of the screenplay is to reveal to us that there was a huge mastermind behind this plot, and an aspiration to world power. On a huge elevated rock, where special goats graze, lives The Shepherd, not seen fully by the audience until the end, hearing only his Scots accent and his vehemence against British persecution of Scotland! He has a group of international agents assembled, sending them out to do dastardly deeds and provoke the war. He is something like a pre--Blofeld in his mountain eerie.

So, a shift from some serious history and upper-class Brits, to a James Bondish approach to World War I. Then, unexpectedly, there comes a kind of pantomime intermission focusing on Rasputin, a heavily disguised Rhys Ifans, who tricks the tsar and tsarina in healing their child, then a guest at a huge banquet, the Duke and his son present, his son even as a sexual lure to Rasputin, and a somewhat different interpretation of his poisoning (a greedy devouring of cake then vomiting), the healing of the Duke’s injured leg, sword fighting, then the fatal shot (this time from Polly, Gemma Arterton, the family nanny, who in fact, along with Shiloh, the African servant and companion from Boer War at war days, Djimon Hounsou, forming a behind-the-scenes network of servants around the world who gather and communicate political information!)

Suddenly, there is an ultra-serious sequence on the Western front, some moving moments.

The climax is mainly on that high eerie, all kinds of derring-do (and, noticing that Ralph Fiennes has a personal trainer listed in the final credits), some bad tampering with history concerning Woodrow Wilson and America’s entry into the war, some Mata Hari intrigue, and indications that they will could be more to come!

1. A prequel? The previous King’s Men action adventures? British espionage, undercover? The work of gentlemen? The shop in Saville Row?
2. The prologue, South Africa, the Boer war, the visit of the Earl of Oxford, his wife and Conrad, the concentration camps, the Red Cross, observation of the camps, the men and women in cages, emaciated? The British troops? Morton, his control and explanations? General Kitchener, his reputation, the challenged by Oxford? The attack, the sniper, shooting at Kitchener, Emily standing on the way, her death, getting her husband to promise to keep Conrad out of war and danger? His promise of holding to it?
3. The transition to 12 years later, pre-World War I tensions? Oxford, age, working behind the scenes, his care for Conrad, Conrad at 18, wanting to be active? The visit to The King’s Man, the suits and tailoring, the visit by Kitchener, discussion of situations, the news from the cousin in Moscow?
4. The transition to the mountaintop, the Shepherd, his Scots accent, the audience not seeing him, like pre-Blofeld? His angers, grudges against the British? Outreach of power, the situation in Sarajevo, the Archduke’s visit? Oxford and Conrad going to the Balkans? Negotiations, the carriage, the assassin commissioned by The Shepherd, the failed attempt, carriage going into the no through road, the assassin shooting the Archduke and his wife? His being interrogated by Oxford?
5. The introduction to the three rulers, grandsons of Queen Victoria, playing together, her disciplining them? The Tsar and his ruling Russia’s family? The Kaiser, presented as foolish? The sombre George V? The meetings with Oxford?
6. The outbreak of the war, the German advance, British troops, Kitchener’s appeal? The issue of Russia withdrawing? Rasputin as one of the delegates for The Shepherd? His behaviour in Russia, Monk, dress, lascivious, the Tsar and Tsarina, his ruse with the son, the poisoning of the sun, asking for their trust, their prayer, bringing him back? His all-powerful influence? Oxford and Conrad travelling to Russia, the plan, the banquet, Conrad and the sexual advance, Rasputin and his gliding style, athletics, with the women, at the banquet, discussions with Oxford, healing his leg, in the ice? Conrad, the plan for the attack? The cake, Rasputin greedily eating it, the poison, his vomiting? The fight with Oxford, the fight with Conrad, Polly and her shooting him?
7. The German advisor to the Kaiser, part of The Shepherd’s plan? The plot, Mata Hari, her being a member as well, going to the US, working in the White House, the seduction of President Wilson, the filming, the hold over Wilson to not into the war? (And the slur, historically, on Wilson?)
8. Conrad, 19, the celebration? His wanting to go to war, conscription, investment, the time of training, going to the trenches, King George promising to protect him, the transfer, his device and changing identity, sending Reid to tell his father what had happened? His going to the trenches, action, the British agent in no man’s land, being shot, the authorities wanting the information, the group going out to rescue, under fire, Conrad finding the wounded man, the information for the British, carrying him to safety, the trenches, the man dead, the friend of Reid challenging Conrad, shooting him as a traitor? His burial in the war cemetery? The award? The King coming to give it to Oxford?
9. The American situation, the blackmailing of the president, the filming, the negative?
10. Kitchener and the ship, the Russian submarine, the torpedo, Morton and his escape?
11. Lenin, the execution of the Tsar and his family, the Bolshevik revolution? And masterminded by The Shepherd?
12. Oxford, Polly and Shiloh becoming a key team, place in the household, Shiloh in South Africa, Polly as nanny, the contacts with the other domestics and getting information, the encounter with Mata Hari, the special shawl, going to Saville Row and the information, the special goats, the mountaintop? The strategy, the plane, Shiloh unwilling to fly and parachute, Polly’s role at the foot of the lift?
13. Executing the plan, far-fetched, Oxford and the flight, the parachute, his being caught, the plane crashing, his landing on the mountaintop, on the side of the mountain, looking at the goats, emulating their progress up the mountainside? Eventually at the top, the shootout with the guards? The Shepherd and the negative of the film, giving it to the American agent, his going to the lift, the lift stopping? Oxford and the flare, the signal, Shiloh and the lift? Polly and the shooting of the guards on the ground?
14. The final revelation of The Shepherd, Morton, Scottish background, the challenge, the shooting, the sword fighting, the derring-do, the edge of the cliff, the goat and Morton and revenge for the cutting off of his horn? Oxford letting him fall?
15. The president, the Butler giving him the film, is destroying it, entry into World War I?
16. Peace? Celebration? The gratitude of the king? Oxford summoning the meeting, buying the shop, there becoming a behind-the-scenes group, the names from the round table?
17. The epilogue, Lenin and the German advisor – and the arrival of Hitler?