Kingsman: The Secret Service (15, 129 mins)

Director: Matthew Vaughn

4 stars

The fourth film based on the work of Glasgow comic book writer Mark Millar, following Wanted and two Kick-Ass movies, keeps up the strong record of the adaptations so far.

Like those movies, it's an anarchic action romp, never afraid to be outrageous with its violence or its situations. And, like Kick-Ass, it's directed by Matthew Vaughn, who brings tremendous imagination and boundless energy to the numerous sensational fight sequences that are the movie's calling card.

The title refers to an elite spy organisation known as Kingsman, who operate out of a Savile Row tailors and are the epitome of style, elegance and lethal brilliance. Key among them is Harry Hart, aka Galahad, who is brought to life by Colin Firth in a way that suggests he could have made a terrific Bond.

Bond meets Pygmalion is the basic set-up, with Harry tasked with turning a rough and ready upstart into a Kingsman. When an agent is killed on duty, the other Kingsmen are asked to nominate someone to be recruited as his replacement, and Harry chooses Eggsy (Taron Egerton), a young man he first met as a child after his father was killed on a Kingsman mission, and who is well on his way to becoming a criminal.

Clearly Firth is perfect casting as a suave and debonair gentleman in suit and umbrella, but few could have predicted he'd be such a convincing action star too. He gets an early chance to show off both sets of talent when he confronts a group of Eggsy's cronies in a pub, and the results are applause-worthy.

Egerton is terrific too, going from chav to gentleman in utterly convincing style, while also demonstrating his comedy and action chops. Mark Strong, for once not playing a baddie, gets a bunch of straight-faced laughs as Kingsman agent Merlin, training Eggsy and backing up Harry, and doing it in an impeccable Scottish accent all the while.

Though it can be very funny, action is the bread and butter of Kingsman, and there are any number of sick, often uproariously violent sequences. There's a hint of The Matrix in the over-the-top somersaulting, but this is mostly its own beast, with a blood-splattered showdown in a church marking the jaw-dropping centrepiece.

As befits a good spy movie there are gadgets too, leading to a nice running joke about how spy films have become grim and realistic, something turned upside down here with a henchwoman who has razor blades for feet. She works for villain of the piece Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) who has been kidnapping world leaders and has plans to use his telecoms business to turn mobile phone users into crazed killers, though the actual details of this aren't really high on the list of Vaughn's and screenwriter Jane Goldman's priorities.

Entertainment, excitement and extreme comedy are the name of the game here, and once again Millar, Goldman and Vaughn have delivered in spades.

See it if you liked: Kick-Ass, Wanted, True Lies

Inherent Vice (15, 149 mins)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

3 stars

Set in a lovingly recreated California of the 1970s and based on the book by Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice is a languorous and comical crime drama with a typically labyrinthine murder mystery that recalls Raymond Chandler.

Who even knows what the plot is; a dense and crazy meander that involves dodgy land deals, murder and Nazi bikers, with Joaquin Phoenix doing terrific work as Larry 'Doc' Sportello, the marijuana-addled private eye caught in the middle.

There's just no shaking off The Big Lebowski, both in the plotting and Doc's similarities to Jeff Bridges' Dude, but this is still regularly great fun. It's the actors that make it, and as Doc spars with cops and criminals, the stellar cameos keep showing up, with Josh Brolin as funny as he's ever been as a hard-to-read cop, and Martin Short stealing it as a demented dentist.

It's a rambling thing, full of novelistic detail that may suit the page better than the screen, with lots of talking and characters telling each other plot details and the histories of who's doing what to who.

That makes as many scenes a chore as those that are effortlessly entertaining, and that combined with its propensity to just go on and on means it should be approached with caution.

See it if you liked: The Big Lebowski, Magnolia, Boogie Nights

Big Hero 6 (PG, 108 mins)

Directors: Don Hall, Chris Williams

3 stars

Disney goes full Pixar with this shiny animated action adventure that isn't quite able to make it on the strength of its figurehead character alone, Baymax.

In the futuristic city of San Fransokyo, teenager Hiro is a whiz with building robots, but even he's impressed when his older brother unveils his new invention, an inflatable medical bot called Baymax.

When his brother is killed, Hiro teams up with Baymax and four other science geeks to track down the shadowy figure responsible for his death, which just about marks the point where Big Hero 6 starts to flag.

It can be very funny, probably its strongest card, and Baymax is a delightful creation, looking like a huge marshmallow but exhibiting bags of personality.

There's quite a bit of Hiccup and Toothless in the relationship between Hiro and Baymax, yet little of the depth, and you can feel the film straining away at every turn for maximum emotional heft.

As an origin story it lacks oomph, while none of the other members of the BH6 are able to stand out and the all-action final third often gives it the feel of a Saturday morning cartoon. Still, come for Baymax and there's much to enjoy.

See it if you liked: The Incredibles, Wreck-It Ralph, How to Train Your Dragon

Son of a Gun (15, 109 mins)

Director: Julius Avery

2 stars

After a fairly lively start that recalls Starred Up, this silly Australian thriller soon turns familiar and predictable.

Brenton Thwaites is a young prisoner who is taken under the wing of a hardened criminal (Ewan McGregor) in return for a favour once he's released. This means helping to bust McGregor and his cohorts out, but once this is accomplished they get mixed up with some bad gangsters and the plot starts to drift once it moves to the outside.

Some of the action is sturdy enough and McGregor does a decent job playing someone dark and dangerous, mercifully getting to keep a Scottish accent. But he's not always best served by the clunky dialogue and Thwaites is bland in a film of heavy-handed chess metaphors that perhaps fancies itself as Heat, but is in fact a juvenile delinquent version of that.

See it if you liked: Starred Up, Animal Kingdom, Plastic