[Music]
[Applause]
this is the church brawl from kingsman
the secret service and much like
kingsman's main character harry hart
here it kicks all of the ass kingsman
the secret service is matthew vaughn's
ultra-violent and stylized take on
classy british espionage that is heavily
influenced by the james bond films of
the 70s and 80s it's fast it's slick and
it's oddly charming all of the elements
that make those classic spy films great
are amplified to create an almost
perfect caricature of the genre told
from a modern perspective while the film
is filled with some really amazing
moments this hyper violent church brawl
stands out as the most impressive and
memorable sequence of the film it's four
and a half minutes of delicately
choreographed but absolutely brutal
chaos that took seven days to shoot and
required over 100 performers and even
more crew members to pull off it's often
the first thing people talk about when
discussing the kingsman in four and a
half minutes of the film harry hart
kills over 40 members of some pretty
intense albeit entertaining ways the way
in which matthew vaughn was able to pull
off one of the most captivating fight
sequences of the 2010s is an example of
the right elements coming together at
the right time the music the editing the
acting the choreography and the pacing
all come together in this beautifully
grotesque symphony of violence set to
leonard skynyrd's freebird kingsman the
secret service was based on a comic book
titled the secret service which was
written by mark miller and for those of
you who don't know who mark miller is
he's a comic book author known for
bringing a sense of conventionalized
action to his work he's responsible for
bringing his properties like wanted and
kick-ass which also had an adaptation
directed by matthew vaughn miller also
wrote the civil war series for marvel
comics the secret service was
illustrated by dave gibbons who is one
of the most prolific artists in comic
book history he's known primarily for
his work on alan moore's watchmen but
has a body of work that spans marvel and
dc comics as well the point is these
comic book guys are known for creating
stories with not just big moments but
enormous moments you can show a lot more
in a panel of a comic book than you can
show in a frame of a film creators are
only limited to the amount of ink they
have on hand this type of freedom yields
some pretty fantastic world building and
over the last 20 to 30 years filmmakers
have been trying to capture the sheer
grandiosity of the comic book stories
and bring them to the big screen
sometimes when adapting comics for the
big screen adjustments are made for a
variety of reasons sometimes they're
cost saving methods sometimes they're
done just because studios are afraid
that something might look ridiculous on
screen for example in fantastic four
rise of the silver surfer galactus was
changed to a gigantic cloud over fears
that a gigantic dude in a purple suit
would look ridiculous on screen in the
case of the kingsman this church fight
was actually added into the story by the
filmmakers it doesn't exist in the
comics in the comic the character that
would be harry hard his name is jack
london in the comics is actually just
shot in a hotel room for sleeping with
another guy's wife there's no grand
unveiling of a master plan or anything
like that so why the change sometimes in
adaptation a director can offer an
alternative take on a sequence that
could be perceived as a stronger choice
than what the original creator intended
depending on how you look at it a good
example of this is in the horribly
tragic ending of frank darabon's the
mist stephen king himself came forward
and said that he wishes that was the
ending that he created for the original
short story you know you've done
something right when the original
creator envies the way you changed their
story which should be added that
kingsman creator mark miller did in fact
do despite the limitations of film vs
comics and novels sometimes film can do
things that pulp fiction cannot because
film is
it's alive
setting up the church fight was a very
complicated process like we said earlier
the sequence required over 100
performers that includes 20 stuntmen and
of course colin firth so needless to say
there was a lot of choreography here
choreography that has little room for
error given the close quarters location
and there's so much to coordinate here
gunshots special effects window breaks
everything is coming at you so fast it's
hard to keep up just as a viewer with
all these elements flying at you so
quickly there's one thing serving as the
glue that holds all of this madness
together editing
the original cut of the church fight
from kingsman was over seven minutes
long and did not feature any cutaways
whatsoever it was just pure unbridled
violence for a very long time after
showing the first cut to some of the
people working on the film it was
decided that seven minutes of stabbing
people with podiums and shooting old
racist ladies point blank in the face
without reprieve might be a little much
for an audience to handle the decision
was made to cut away to some reaction
shots from the film's supporting cast
and this does a couple of things first
it gives the viewers a chance to catch
their breath from the intensity of the
events transpiring in front of them it
also serves a secondary function of
contextualization i mean we're watching
the protagonists of the film do
something absolutely atrocious and
having these reaction cutaways really
drives the point home the editing is
also masterful in the way that they hide
cuts to make this sequence feel like
it's all happening in one take kingsman
editor eddie hamilton is no stranger to
what makes an action sequence
captivating he's cut together some
vaughn films like x-men first class as
well as both kick-asses in the fight
sequences he cleverly utilizes the
bodies of people getting thrown across
the screen as a way to blend clips
together to make this fight sequence
feel like one fluid shot it really makes
us feel like we're inside the church
right along with harry immersing
ourselves completely in the action of
the scene another little touch from the
editing department is this kind of
constant vibration of the frame that
goes on throughout the entire sequence
see how the screen is almost shaking the
entire time this is just another subtle
element that makes the scene pulse with
energy and excitement it gives the scene
a feeling of being completely out of
control and provides us with the sense
of unease as we watch it this shaky cam
as editors might call it can sometimes
feel like it's a little too much to
handle there are some sequences in the
born ultimatum that can feel at times
like matt damon is fighting in the
middle of an earthquake but kingsman
seems to implement this effect to the
viewer's benefit it feels really
exciting to watch another element that
makes this scene so gripping is the
fight choreography itself this whole
sequence seems like a stuntman's fever
dream and that might be largely due to
the fact that the fight sequence was
choreographed by a former stunt person
by the name of guillermo grispo the
choices he makes in this sequence are
wildly interesting and at times almost
disturbing and that's part of what makes
this sequence so interesting to watch
crispo is a master at using the
environment itself as a proverbial toy
box with limitless possibilities the
methods that harry hart uses to dispatch
the patrons of this church are wildly
unorthodox and create an almost fun way
of surprising us not only does this
fight seem dazzle us with the use of
some of harry's high-tech gadgets but
there's also a thematic element of using
pieces of church to dispatch some of the
assailants crispas choreography really
shows harry using every part of the
buffalo at one point in time harry takes
apart his gun after running out of
ammunition and uses the pieces to stab
the guy in the neck it's unusual but
it's also a much needed departure from
your run-of-the-mill brawl scene it
keeps things interesting because the
fight choreography is so unique the
church fight in kingsman the secret
service is a sequence that employs the
right music the right editor the right
actor the right fight choreographer the
right camera operator and the right
director to an immense benefit to the
viewer this sequence takes all of the
aspects of great filmmaking and blends
them together to create a finished
product that is really unique the levels
of each element are incredibly balanced
too it's like the baby bears porridge of
fight scenes it isn't too hot it's not
too cold the fight scene is just right
the finished product isn't just
something you're watching and admiring
from afar either the filmmakers created
something that you can feel and it's a
reminder that a sequence that feels
almost out of control can actually
require the highest levels of control to
pull it off and what do you know that's
it for today's episode press the like
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[Music]