The King's Man is the third installment in the Kingsman film series and a prequel focus on the origin of the organization.
Plot[]
In 1902, British aristocrat Orlando, Duke of Oxford, his wife Emily, and their young son Conrad visit a concentration camp in South Africa during the Second Boer War while working for the British Red Cross. Emily is mortally wounded during a Boer sniper attack on the camp. Before she dies, Emily makes Orlando promise never to let their son see war again.
Twelve years later, Orlando has formed a private spy network consisting of domestic servants employed by the world's most powerful dignitaries and has recruited his own servants, Shola and Polly, into it. The network's primary objective is to protect the United Kingdom and the British Empire from the approaching Great War. Conrad is eager to fight, but Orlando forbids him to join the British Army and persuades Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, not to let him do so.
At the behest of Kitchener, Conrad and Orlando ride with Orlando's friends, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, through Sarajevo. Conrad saves the Archduke from a bomb thrown by Gavrilo Princip, a Young Bosnia rebel intent on sparking a war. Princip later encounters the Archduke's entourage again by chance and fatally shoots him and his wife. Orlando learns that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was orchestrated by "The Flock"; a group plotting to pit the German, Russian, and British empires against each other. The Flock has its headquarters on an isolated clifftop and is led by the mysterious the "Shepherd", whose ultimate goal is to achieve Scottish independence; among its operatives is Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, trusted adviser to Tsar Nicholas of Russia.
On the Shepherd's orders, Rasputin poisons Tsar Nicholas's young son Alexei, only to cure him when Nicholas promises to stay out of the war. Conrad is notified of Rasputin's manipulation by his cousin, Prince Felix Yusupov. Knowing the Western Front will be left vulnerable if Russia leaves the war, Conrad delivers this information to Kitchener and his aide-de-camp Major Max Morton, who set sail for Russia. Their ship, HMS Hampshire, is torpedoed by a submarine and sunk. Word of Kitchener's death reaches Orlando, spurring him to travel to Russia with Shola, Polly, and Conrad to kill Rasputin. After a grueling fight, Orlando, Shola, Conrad, and Polly successfully kill Rasputin during a Christmas party hosted by Prince Felix. Later that night, after celebrating his 19th birthday, Conrad expresses his determination to join the army, much to Orlando's dismay.
At the Shepherd's orders, Erik Jan Hanussen, an adviser to Kaiser Wilhelm II, sends the Zimmermann Telegram, hoping to distract Britain and the United States. Although the message is intercepted by British intelligence and deciphered by Polly, American President Woodrow Wilson refuses to join the war, citing a lack of concrete proof. The Shepherd recruits Vladimir Lenin and orders his Bolsheviks to overthrow the Tsar and remove Russia from the war, sending an assassin to execute the Romanov family.
Now of age, Conrad is commissioned into the Grenadier Guards against his father's wishes. King George V persuades Orlando to let him have Conrad assigned to London. Determined to fight in the war, Conrad swaps places with a soldier named Archie Reid, giving him the nickname "Lancelot" to send his father a message. Disguised as Archie, a member of the Black Watch, Conrad volunteers for a mission into No-Man's Land to retrieve information from a British agent wounded there. He is mistaken for a German spy upon his return and fatally shot, devastating Orlando, but the information he recovered verifies the authenticity of the Zimmermann Telegram.
After Wilson again refuses to enter the war despite Conrad's proof, Orlando learns that Wilson is being blackmailed with footage of being seduced by the Shepherd's agent, Mata Hari, and resolves to recover the original negatives. Upon defeating Hari at the American embassy, Orlando has her cashmere wool scarf identified as being made from a rare breed only found in a specific mountainous region. Orlando, Shola, and Polly head there and fight their way inside. The Shepherd is revealed to be Morton, who had faked his death and killed Kitchener himself. Orlando fights and kills Morton with the help of Shola while Polly recovers the film; it is delivered to Wilson, who burns it and prepares to mobilise American troops.
A year after the war, Orlando purchases the Kingsman Tailor Shop as a front for his organisation. Orlando, Shola, Polly, King George, Archie, and the U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. form the original Kingsman, each assuming codenames from the King Arthur legend to honour Conrad. In a mid-credit scene, Hanussen, having taken on the Shepherd identity, introduces Lenin to the Romanovs' killer: a young Adolf Hitler.
Cast[]
- Ralph Fiennes as Orlando Oxford/Arthur
- Gemma Arterton as Polly Wilkins/Galahad
- Rhys Ifans as Grigori Rasputin
- Matthew Goode as Captain Max Morton/Shepherd
- Tom Hollander as King George/Percival, Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas
- Harris Dickinson as Conrad Oxford
- Alexander Shaw as young Conrad Oxford
- Daniel Brühl as Erik Jan Hanussen
- Djimon Hounsou as Shola
- Charles Dance as Herbert Kitchener
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Archie Reid
- Aaron Vodovoz as Felix Yuzupov
- Stanley Tucci as United States Ambassador
- Alison Steadman as Rita
- Robert Aramayo as Gavrilo Princip
- Alexandra Maria Lara as Emily Oxford
- Joel Basman as Gawain
- Neil Jackson as Captain Forrest
Tagline[]
- In 2020, they will become kings.
- This February, witness the rise of the civilized.
- Witness the Origin of the Kingsman.
Production History[]
The film was shot in the United Kingdom, Turin and Venaria Reale, Italy.
Gallery[]
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