THE KING’S MAN

Ralph Fiennes, Harris Dickinson In theaters Wed., Dec. 22 R

2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service presented Colin Firth recruiting Taron Egerton into an espionage agency run out of a Saville Row tailor; 2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle expanded the operation and got Americans Halle

Berry and Channing Tatum in on the action. Set during World War I, this puzzling prequel offers an origin story of how Kingsman came to be. After losing his wife, the Duke of Oxford (Fiennes) objects to their son Conrad (Dickinson) enlisting as a soldier. But the Duke’s pacifism is short-lived in an action flick that’s often outrageous, but lacks the stylish swagger of its predecessors.