For a director with only five films under his belt, Matthew Vaughn has done a lot to distinguish himself. His first directorial feature, Layer Cake, was a slick British crime flick that proved Vaughn was more than just a Guy Ritchie producer with director-envy. With Kick-Ass, he established himself as one of the most unique action filmmakers in the business, with brilliantly staged fight sequences that were as hilarious as they were violent. When handed the dying X-Men franchise, he almost single-handedly revived it with X-Men: First Class, a film that showed how spin-offs and reboots didn’t have to be slaves to their original source.

What’s immediately interesting about Kingsman, his most recent film, is the way that it initially feels like a mashup of all of Vaughn’s previous works. Like Layer Cake, Kingsman is a distinctly British film, and also delves a bit into British crime. Like Kick-Ass, it is a highly-stylized and ultra-violent action film that functions on its own terms and as a satire of a particular genre (superhero films for Kick-Ass, and early James Bond films for Kingsman). Like X-Men: First Class, a significant portion of the film is given over to a team of young new recruits and the dangers that face them while becoming part of a team.

However, as it continues, Kingsman proves itself to be very much its own thing, as well. The screenplay, by Vaughn and long-time creative partner Jane Goldman, knows exactly when to appeal to spy movie cliches and when to upend them. While the first half feels at times like two different movies cut together, one starring Colin Firth as Harry Hart and another starring Taron Egerton as Eggsy, some clever surprises ultimately show how purposeful that structure was. Moments that seem like they would potentially derail the narrative instead prove to be instrumental in telling the story that was intended from the start. It is excellent structure work.

Even without the clever plot, Kingsman would be a must-see film for its action sequences, which are some of the best in years. One scene in particular involves a “hero” character indiscriminately murdering a building filled with over a hundred people. The film goes out of its way to twist the circumstances of the encounter so that it’s “okay” for the viewer to be excited by it, but these are obvious manipulations to pave the way for a tour-de-force of violence the likes of which are rarely scene. The brilliantly staged and meticulously shot sequence elicits the same thrills as other modern classics like Kill Bill’s Crazy 88 fight, and Hit Girl’s hallway massacre in Kick-Ass.

There have already been critics of this sequence and the perverse joy that it exhibits, and whether or not you fall in line with it (and other scenes that revel in violence, including a rather celebratory sequence of exploding heads) will definitely color your enjoyment of Kingsman. While the characters themselves are largely absolved of ill will by various plot details, these details do not absolve the filmmakers themselves of finding joy in physical destruction. Your ability to enjoy Kingsman may be dependent on your ability to clearly delineate real life violence from pure fantasy. If you have trouble separating the two on an intellectual or emotional level, Kingsman may not be the movie for you. But for the rest of us, it’s a cracking good time.