Kingsman:The Secret Service tells the story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid, played by Taron Egerton, who is recruited by Colin Firth's secret agent character
A
new action movie out this week includes a scene in which a U.S.
President – clearly based on Barack Obama – gets his head blown to bits.
Kingsman:
The Secret Service stars Colin Firth as a British secret agent
attempting to save the world from a billionaire bad guy played by Samuel
L Jackson.
The
cheeky James Bond-influenced caper opens this weekend and some critics
have been quick to wonder if it is the first major studio movie to kill a
sitting U.S President.
Cinematic killings of a current U.S. president are virtually unheard of in major studio movies, although President George W. Bush was assassinated by a sniper's bullet in the 2006 British indie docudrama Death of a President.
Kingsman, based upon an acclaimed comic book and directed by Matthew Vaughn, of X-Men: First Class fame, doesn't refer to President Obama by name but the inference is clear.
In one scene Jackson's character Valentine is seen pitching his evil plan at the White House and he shakes hands with a man who - although he only see him from behind - is clearly supposed to be President Obama.
Later on in the film we see as the Obama-esque leader's head explode.
Director Vaughn isn't shy about admitting that the character is supposed to the POTUS.
'The White House and Obama-ish president — there's no other symbol about a global power than the White House,' he told IGN.
'If I used 10 Downing Street, most people would go, 'What's that little black door? Where is that? Who is that?' So I needed to show that Valentine was — when you hear Valentine saying, 'Politicians are s***,' you pull back and go, 'Oh, f***! He's in the White House! This guy's powerful.''
Director Matthew Vaughn isn't shy about admitting that the character is supposed to be President Obama
Samuel L Jackson plays a billionaire bad guy in Kingsman who is attempting to take over the world
Kingsman is released by Twentieth Century Fox, a sister company of Fox News which is well known for not being a big fan of President Obama.
The film is released not long after the controversy surrounding Sony's The Interview which featured North Korean leader Kim Jung-Un being assassinated.
The Secret Service tells the story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.
It also stars Mark Strong, Taron Egerton and Michael Caine.
The 2006 indie Death of a President featured George W. Bush being assassinated by a sniper's bullet