there are things to like in Kingsman, no doubt. some of the gags are really funny. taron egerton is great. certain action scenes are well put together and the visuals are engaging.
but it is so inconsistent, particularly in tone - one scene is laugh-out-loud comedy, the next scene is dumb melodrama that seems to be taking itself seriously. this is really my problem with vaughn's films - he can't control himself. he thinks of lots of different things and he just puts them all on film. doesn't think about how well they go together, whether they're appropriate for what the film is meant to be, or even if they're any good. I had this problem with kick-ass & stardust too. some of the stuff works, some of it doesn't, but it's all thrown together in a bleeding mess that I just can't stand what's going on.
the "satirical" spin on bond/spy films doesn't work at all. there's a line in satire that runs between picking something apart, and just straight up copying it. vaughn has thrown his movie so far across the line that he has no idea that he's done so.
not to mention the sexism, which I'm not gonna go into because I know no good will come of that...