The King's Man, directed by Matthew Vaughn With three hours to kill on a dark, snowy evening in Newbury I headed to the cinema. Not having seen any of the Kingsman franchise before meant that this prequel was not an obvious choice for me. Having seen it, I'm not likely to make an effort to catch any others in the series. The plot is a curious mix of James Bond meets All Quiet on the Western Front meets Downton Abbey. Ralph Fiennes (who also has an Executive Producer credit) plays a do-gooding ex military hero forced out of pacifism by the need to stop World War I. The descent into global conflict is masterminded by a Scottish baddie living at the top of an odd shaped mountain surrounded by a herd of Alpine ibex goats. Only 2 of the female characters appear to have many lines and one of them is killed in the first few minutes. The other - Polly played by Gemma Arterton - cracks codes, sharp shoots and bakes delicious cakes....