With the rest of the world obsessed with hideous anthropomorphic animals this week, you might have assumed that the film world would have come to a standstill. Well, that’s only somewhat true, as there are still properties that the weird Disney/Fox chimera would like to promote that definitely won’t appeal to nostalgia-driven 30-somethings who may or may not have children but definitely have this sign in their homes. Enter the first trailer for the Kingsman prequel The King’s Man, a fantasy for a different kind of man-child, but one that looks a whole hell of a lot more fun than your garden variety live-action/photorealistic remake. Plus, where else are you going to get your daily doctor-recommended dosage of a knife-fighting Gregori Rasputin today?
Here’s the trailer:
So, that definitely doesn’t look so bad! We’re alright with these sorts of prequels when they’re set decades and decades before the timeline of the series’ first film (like, we don’t care how Colin Firth got to be Colin Firth in these movies, but it is kind of interesting to see how the organization came about). And that cast, too: with names like Ralph Fiennes (playing T. E. Lawrence, Daniel Bruhl, Harris Dickinson (the dude from Beach Rats!), Charles Dance, Matthew Goode, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Stanley Tucci, Gemma Arteton, Rhys Ifans, Djimon Hounsou, and Liam Fucking Neeson, how bad could this be? We’re definitely a whole lot more interested in this one than we were when we woke up this morning, that’s for sure.
Here’s a synopsis:
“As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in ‘The King’s Man,’ directed by Matthew Vaughn.”
And here’s the pretty-cool first poster for the film:
The King’s Man hits theaters on February 14.