Eggsy (Egerton) is a young lout, apparently doomed to a life of petty crime and public endangerment. But Harry Hart (Firth) sees some potential, and inducts him into an uberstylish, super-British secret agency – to start an extremely dangerous training regime full of dangers and death defying. When lisping super-villain Valentine (Jackson) endangers the world with an incredibly violent plan, there’s only one team that can stop him…

The combination of comic book writer Mark Millar and director Matthew Vaughn previously gave the world the twisted, violent cynical world of Kick-Ass. Now they return to something just as twisted and just as violent, but with a stylish British twist. Firth’s perfect English gentlemanly facade has always begged to get roughed up just a little, and it’s a pleasure to see him get violent with a brolly and an immaculately tailored suit. Egerton is an engaging presence as the rough diamond about to get polished, and… well, when Samuel L. Jackson really turns up to play rather than just going through the motions, it’s always fun. So look forward to a spy-romp with an edge, and a whole lot of fun.

Ex-government agent Bryan Mills (Neeson) has had spectacularly bad luck with his family for two movies now – first his daughter (Grace) got kidnapped in Paris, leading him to kill a vast number of Albanian Mobsters, then the Albanian mob tried to get revenge by kidnapping both him and his ex-wife (Janssen) on a holiday in Turkey, leading him to kill another large group of Albanians. For his third and final go around, things seem to be going well for Mills, back home in LA – right up until the point at which his ex-wife gets killed and he’s framed for the murder. With the police after him, it’s time for him to unleash a very particular set of skills, skills he has acquired over a very long career. He will look for them. He will find them. And he will kill them.

Liam Neeson’s late-blooming action-badass stage began with the first Taken film, and it’s served him reasonably well – his hard-faced antics as he deals out vast amounts of relentless violence to various transgressors provides good quality murderous entertainment to audiences worldwide. Combined with the slight weirdness of any action movie written by Luc Besson, the combination of insane action and plotting with grim determination provides a nice chunk of cinematic fromage for your delectation. No, it’s not the smartest blockbuster of the season, but there’s violence aplenty, and that’s enough for me.