Kingsman: The Secret Service (Matthew Vaughn)

[Henry Gale]

http://www.joblo.com/posters/images/full/kingsman-poster-main.jpg

IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2802144/) / Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsman:_The_Secret_Service)

[Henry Gale]

Wow. I don't know what the marketing did to keep my expectations where they were, but this fucking thing felt like it came out of nowhere. I thought I knew what I was generally walking into but it genuinely blew me away.

Maybe it's just this time of year, having been buried in fairly dour prestige movies, that something so unabashedly, outrageously exciting and just concerned with being FUN made it all the more effective in contrast, but that doesn't take away from how insane and stunningly well-crafted an action / spy picture this is. And I haven't even cared for Vaughn that much in the past! I remember liking Layer Cake as an nicely assured style piece that also acted as a perfect showcase for a charismatic Daniel Craig's future-Bond potential and Sienna Miller's general hotness, I never cared for Kick-Ass, I think First Class is okay but that overall it's too dull in its storytelling gusto and it flounders whenever Fassbender, McAvoy and Bacon aren't on screen, and I've only seen bits of Stardust (even though I probably liked what I saw more than those other three).

So needless to say I think this is the best work he's ever done. It's quiet inventiveness coated in just enough meta-ness makes every familiar turn sucker punch you with some of its vicious jaw-dropping left turns. The performances are all really lively and funny (even a rare live-action Mark Hamill appearing as a hammy English professor is awesome), the action is pretty much a blend of Vaughn's Kick-Ass work and Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim / World's End style, except with stakes and crazy thematic edge that make it rise well above those glimmers of noticeable routine. And even from a cinematography standpoint, as a digital endeavour (despite some questionably shuttered moments throughout) it often gives as good a representation of the anamorphic detail and distinct colour palette of this type of British action movie look as celluloid itself. A top shelf 35mm impression.

So yeah, I'm just beyond impressed with this. I didn't even know it was R-rated until it opened with a double shot of F-bombs, and it makes pretty damn satisfying use of that playing field violence-wise (if feeling a bit more in the UK "15" zone). There's one sequence right before the third act that ended in me (and others) needing to say "Holy fuck." that I basically want everyone in America to see, and let it incite as much political hysteria as possible. It is glorious, and the rest ain't too shabby either. There's so much in it that I simply don't want to talk about until it's out to keep it all as effectively surprising as it was for me.

It might not completely reinvent the genre -- though I'm not sure that's really its goal, nor does it have to be -- but by paying its utmost respect to the lighter, wackier conventions of the past (everything from early Bond to Our Man Flint, or hell, even Top Secret!), planting itself firmly in our present, and blending it all together into something that's just self-aware enough but not afraid to take ballsy chances of its own, it ends up leaving its genre in a better, invigorated and refreshing place.

[Pop Trash]

"Hello, my name is Michael Caine. Not very many people know that."

[MadMan]

I'm hoping this comes to my area.

[Morris Schæffer]

Yeah, the trailers had me pumped. I was reminded of that one Alex Ryder movie, but whereas that one was devoid of peril, guts and thrilling action, this one looks like it marries the kids as spies angle with some real stakes and authenticity. Look forward to it.

[Henry Gale]

Yeah, the trailers had me pumped. I was reminded of that one Alex Ryder movie, but whereas that one was devoid of peril, guts and thrilling action, this one looks like it marries the kids as spies angle with some real stakes and authenticity. Look forward to it.

Not only significant stakes, but a cutting sense of humour and absolute "anything goes" sensibilities. The first 15 minutes is easily the most unremarkable, only because the movie's ballsiness only knows how to increase as it goes.


I'm hoping this comes to my area.

Well considering my possibly irrational hope that it'll become as huge a hit as possible, and also that it probably cost a fair bit of money to justify a really wide release against 50 Shades on Valentine's / President's Day weekend (I guess depending on the gender demo being targeted), you should be in the clear.


"Hello, my name is Michael Caine. Not very many people know that."

Honestly, until posting that poster and seeing this reference, I kinda forgot he was in it. It's more or less a flashy, well-employed cameo to establish the old guard of the film's universe passing onto the slyer, younger generations. This is Egerton, Firth and Strong's show, with Jackson appearing in the proper classic spy film villain capacity.

[Neclord]

Call me classist, but going by the trailers it's going to take a miracle for that chav to win me over.

[Henry Gale]

Call me classist, but going by the trailers it's going to take a miracle for that chav to win me over.

Hahah, well, it helps that the movie makes him the butt of a lot of jokes early on, and then in making him more street-smart and socially grounded than his (mostly posh) trainee opponents, covertly makes him really likeable. I also Egerton (who's apparently Welsh) in the role also helps make the character enjoyably relatable and empathetic where he shouldn't be on paper.

[dreamdead]

I feel a little bit removed from this one. Certainly the pre-credit coda with the princess is obnoxiously inane, and the post-credit sequence hits every expected beat that it just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

That said, the absurdity of the finale, shooting heads and all, almost does enough to keep me entertained through a very conventional maturing male narrative. Throughout I was far more interested in Roxy since she's a more unconventional take on the spy thriller; social class isn't enough to transform Eggsy into anything other than the typical lead of these types of films. I like that the film kept Roxy and Eggsy platonic, but I'm more interested in how sex as a weapon splits apart these two coworkers, a la The Americans. This film isn't angling for that tone, but it'd be more interesting.

At least Jackson played a different note than usual.

[TGM]

So yeah, I thought this was pretty fucking spectacular.

[max314]

Good fun.

[Dukefrukem]

Good fun.

You went and saw this before Jupiter Ascending??

[max314]

You went and saw this before Jupiter Ascending??

Kingsman came out in the UK nearly a month ago. So yes :D

[MadMan]

That was badass. Thanks to this movie I will never hear Freebird the same way again. Also hurray for having Mark Strong in a prominent role.

[Stay Puft]

I feel a little bit removed from this one.

I feel a lot removed from this one, but I take it I'm not the target audience. I'd take what you said about Eggsy and apply that to the whole film, really. It's full of tiresome fan service, lots of winking and nudging at the audience, but it isn't anything other than the movie it keeps saying it isn't. Which is fine, I get what it wants to be, but for somebody who didn't walk into this as a fan of the spy genre, I found a lot of it shrug-worthy. The whole thing being a standard male wish-fulfillment fantasy makes it fairly forgettable, too. Amusing and diverting, perhaps, but it evaporated after I had slept on it.

I do appreciate, however, this recent trend of hiring Brad Allan as a second unit director. Went a little too heavy on the shaky cam this time, but the actual choreography was bananas. Loved it.

[Morris Schæffer]

Not only significant stakes, but a cutting sense of humour and absolute "anything goes" sensibilities. The first 15 minutes is easily the most unremarkable, only because the movie's ballsiness only knows how to increase as it goes.

SOME SPOILERS!!

Really liked this movie, but it got a bit exhausting for me personally. I loved the first 15-30 minutes because they were funny and still a bit energetic, but it all seemed reasonably grounded in reality. I found myself hugely engaged. Then Jackson showed up and my brother and I found him funny, but eventually we found he outstayed his welcome while the action scenes became less probable and just absolutely preposterous culminating in that scene in the church. Bad? No, and I suppose spectacularly choreographed, but total disconnect there in terms of what the good guy was supposed to do. Of course, he wasn't doing it out of his own free will, but he killed about 50 folks in that sequence. You're just showing off, you've decided to shoot a scene in the script where you can do something cool and crazy, but you never stopped to think if you should. You're not interested in engaging me any further on a narrative level, but decided to go off the rails entirely. How do you solve that? You write something that doesn't involve flipping a switch that turns every cell phone owner into a raging, homicidal maniac. I can take a little spoofing, a little nutso stuff, but I guess there are times when it goes a bit overboard and I tend not to equate that with ballsiness. Kudos to the way that scene was shot so superficially not a total loss at all.

Still, glad I saw this. Lots of fun, lots of energy (yeah, still a plus for me), cool cast, seeing Mark Hamill again in a big movie felt awesome!!

[Dukefrukem]

I thought this was going to be a little bit more grounded... until 5 minutes in someone gets completely split in half with no blood and Samuel L Jackson has a lisp.

Fun movie.

[[ETM]]

Did they just... awkwardly remove the Swedish princess anal sex joke from the BluRay? Wow.

[Irish]

This was an immense amount of fun. Probably the best comic book movie I've seen in years. I read some positive notices when the movie was released, but wow did they undersell it.

Also, this has gotta have the best musical cues since Guardians. I have never seen "Money for Nothing" and "Freebird" put to better use. :D

[Scar]

Oh my God, I almost hyperventilated at the exploding heads.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Oh my God, I almost hyperventilated at the exploding heads.

Fucking multicolored mini-mushroom clouds. Oh my God.

That and the church scene are two of the most amazing scenes of the year.

I had no love for Kick-Ass, but this one seemed to get closer to that film's goal of being both a straight-ahead story and put-on of itself

[[ETM]]

That and the church scene are two of the most amazing scenes of the year.

Amazing...ly tasteless and off-putting, yes.


I had no love for Kick-Ass, but this one seemed to get closer to that film's goal of being both a straight-ahead story and put-on of itself

I found Kick-Ass equally revolting.

I find it bewildering how off my own experience is compared to some.

[Dead & Messed Up]

;543996']Amazing...ly tasteless and off-putting, yes.

I found it very off-putting, but I figure that has to be the point. It's a provocation, a confrontational moment where a lot is happening. The action is balletic but repugnant. The victims are terrible people but hardly deserving of their fate. It rips Firth's politeness and decency aside and shows exactly what kind of violence he is capable of (the horrific kind). It's eventually numbing and just kinda sad. And a lot of that feels intentional, especially with the cutbacks to Jackson, who gets no enjoyment from enabling the violence.

Definitely did not find it amazing in the "bro, that fight was so cool!" way. But it dropped my jaw for sure.

[Grouchy]

This is a whole lot of fun. There's zero substance to the film, sure, and every single emotional bit falls flat, but as a send-up / spoof / homage to classic 007 it works wonderfully. Surprisingly, it's Sam L. Jackson and (to an extent) Mark Strong who steal the show acting-wise, although the most memorable moment is the church shootout - a piece of energetic action filmmaking that's better than everything else in the movie.

Towards the end I noticed a surprisingly clumsy jump cut for a film this stylish and now I discover it's because the goddamn online purists wanted an anal sex joke removed. People like that give me the creeps, but the real scary thing is that they are being listened to.

[KK2.0]

thanks to youtube I've seen the infamous "princess joke" and I'm baffled that such a thing would cause any controversy but not the violent church massacre, well, people are weird.

[[ETM]]

It's unusually crass and distasteful. Plain ultra violence barely registers these days.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Also, the church scene is quick to show reactions from other characters, notably the hero, who's repulsed, and the lead villain, who's grossed out by the violence. As a satiric provocation, it announces itself more clearly than the anal sex gag, and the film in general pays much more attention to Bondian violence/weaponry/strategy than it does Bondian sexual politics, which makes the anal sex gag more left-field. I don't think Western Puritanism is the only reason people criticize the ending.

[Neclord]

Millar's thing with exploding the boundaries of good taste generally rubs me the wrong way, and I really disliked he and Vaughn's Kick-Ass, but for some reason this one kind of worked for me. The characters were kind of fun, I was really digging Firth and Jackson in particular, and that church scene was just audacious and insane.

[TGM]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1CI3e4w9CI

[Sycophant]

What an ugly movie. Frustrating for all its potential. Charismatic performances from most of the cast, including a wonderful Firth, squandered in one of the most misanthropic masculine power fantasies I've had the displeasure of sitting through since, well, probably Wanted.

Was the parkour scene a satirical jab about the fetishization of parkour as the highest of cool cache in the contemporary youth action film? Or is it just another participant?

The anal sex princess thing is the sourest note to close the movie on. Though the mid-credits sequence is pretty tacky too.

The action is almost all aesthetically repulsive.

Anyway. Hated this thing.

[transmogrifier]

65/100


As deep as a puddle and as nourishing as a lollipop, this is an unapologetic teenage wish-fulfillment fantasy that nevertheless has a fantastic eye for action and a compelling narrative momentum that helps to cover for these flaws. Both Firth and Jackson get to tweak their cinematic personas to great effect.

[Peng]

Yeah, Firth is so good that...

...once he's out of the picture, it's like the film loses its heart somewhat. Not that the film is particularly emotional or deep before, but his warm presence really anchors my emotional involvement. After that, it works only on a empty spectacle level for me, which is still fun.

[Grouchy]

When did "wish fulfillment fantasy" develop such negative connotations? Isn't that what most fictional heroes are?

[KK2.0]

The parkour was probably a nod to Daniel Craig's scene in Cassino Royale.

I still don't see why the anal sex joke is an issue, the whole film was tongue in cheek and the bad taste was already very prevalent with all the gory deaths and jackson's puking stuff, the butt is barely on screen for a second. That said, Kick Ass didn't do anything for me but I enjoyed Kingsman, yes, it's shallow but who expects complexity out of a spy action comedy flick anyway?

But I agree that the film loses his heart as soon as Colin is out, though.

[amberlita]

Ugh. This movie was atrocious.

Why am I reading words like "emotional anchor" in reaction to this movie? The most heart-tugging moments all required JB to waggle his tail on screen. Not a single emotionally resonate note in this entire movie, which may not be necessary if all you're trying to do is have a bit of fun but when the music swells and the main character's eyes tear up, I'm going to assume that I am meant to care that a character just died. There's no stakes because nobody has much of a basis for what they do in this film so why should I care if they succeed if I don't even know why they want to?

The action is messy and boring and been-there. Oooooh, I know! Let's make it all happen in one big long pseudo-take. Then it'll feel all fresh and new to the audience!

I have no problem with anal sex or jokes of the sort. I have a big problem with introducing an utterly pointless female character for the sole purpose of rewarding our hero with the opportunity to drill her in the asshole. This movie starts out with an air bombing of a building that literally has the digital effects equivalent of a Metal Gear Solid opening, and it ends with Mario rescuing Princess Peach from the dungeon after defeating the boss. Gross.

And what the hell was Samuel L. Jackson thinking? It doesn't bring something "new" and "dimensional" to incorporate a pointless lisp. It's just distracting and stupid.

The collective opinion of Match-cut is really going to shit these days. I think you all are getting too old or something. :)

[Skitch]

I agree with Amberlita for all different reasons. So much green screen nonsense I thought I was watching Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow part 2. That end joke was so rapey and icky and ungentlemenly it completely didn't fit.

[Grouchy]

thanks to youtube I've seen the infamous "princess joke" and I'm baffled that such a thing would cause any controversy but not the violent church massacre, well, people are weird.
This.

[Dead & Messed Up]

How can a joke be rapey if the girl literally requests it and clearly wants it? If you think it's gross, sure, whatever, but it is the opposite of rape.

[Watashi]

I think the controversy isn't that it's "rapey" (it's not), it's just that she's is such a non-character throughout the entire film and the film just decides to end on her. We don't care about her. The fact that she is a princess just reinforces the video game trope that she needs to be rescued by the hero and gives herself up as the reward. It's more than wish fulfillment, it comes out of nowhere as she isn't sexually portrayed earlier on in the film.

The film is better than Kick Ass which has similar misogynistic problems, but at least the supporting cast is interesting though the film really suffers when Firth departs. I rather have had Roxie as the lead.

[Skitch]

It feels rapey to me because its just so ungentlemanly to accept, the same way street prostitution feels rapey to me when a guy is paying a person to plunge them and they have no sexual desire but wanting to survive. Perhaps rapey isn't the right term, but it just feels terrible to me. I'm not offended by the act I guess, but...I don't know. It just felt off to me. If him trying to get anal from his girlfriend or whoever had been a running gag throughout the film, it wouldn't have been so strange.

[Grouchy]

Like with many similar scenarios, I have zero clue what's going on through your heads when you say stuff like this.

The movie ends on that note as a reference to the many similar double-entendres in James Bond films. The line is extra raunchy because it's a parody of that type of movie.

[[ETM]]

It's not a good parody if you have to keep telling people what it is.

[Dead & Messed Up]

;545754']It's not a good parody if you have to keep telling people what it is.

I don't know. It depends on the goal of the satire. I mean, there are many kinds of satire, right? Airplane is mostly a spoof, hazing its genre broadly and obviously. Dr. Strangelove is a different kind, very deadpan and eerily plausible. The first time I watched it, I barely laughed at all, but I also thought it was pretty great. Verhoeven plays his satire almost like two simultaneous movies are occurring, the movie and the movie under the movie.

Film Crit Hulk wrote some interesting thoughts on the film (http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/07/17/film-crit-hulk-smash-kingsman-and-the-maybe-genius-of-non-winking-satire) (if you can stomach the all-caps), and I think there are some good points. For example, how the soundtrack adds to the film - "Money For Nothing" and "Pomp and Circumstance" both being songs that provide enjoyment to an intended audience while simultaneously chiding them lyrically.

[KK2.0]

I think the controversy isn't that it's "rapey" (it's not), it's just that she's is such a non-character throughout the entire film and the film just decides to end on her. We don't care about her. The fact that she is a princess just reinforces the video game trope that she needs to be rescued by the hero and gives herself up as the reward. It's more than wish fulfillment, it comes out of nowhere as she isn't sexually portrayed earlier on in the film.

The film is better than Kick Ass which has similar misogynistic problems, but at least the supporting cast is interesting though the film really suffers when Firth departs. I rather have had Roxie as the lead.

I agree that she's a mere reward but my opinion about the scene is the same as Grouchy, it was a version of the 'James Bond ending' and making her a princess reinforced the trope, yes, I believe it was intentional. The whole movie keeps doing this: it frequently parodies and makes nods to spy movies while building it's own origin story at the same time, like DaMU said above, it's like two movies playing at the same time.

About the controversy, I don't think people rationalized much about the cinematic values, some of them seemed clearly offended by the imagery in itself, one co-worker told me the scene was borderline porn, which is a silly hyperbole and it surprised me coming from him. Looks like watching a butt in first person evokes some primitive reactions on people.

[Spinal]

Finally got around to this and now I'm definitely going to try to catch the sequel in the theater. I loved that it wasn't afraid to go gonzo.

[Russ]

I also loved it for that same reason.

[[ETM]]

I still think it's overrated crap.

[Spinal]

For the record, I thought the princess gag was funny, but I don't know if it's worth defending because the reasons why I liked it seem to be the reasons why others don't. People complain about the character being there solely for the gag, but to me, that unexpected quality is why it's funny. Here is this minor character that we've mostly forgotten about. The protagonist, on the verge of saving the world, realizes that he's stumbled into an action movie cliche and requests a kiss for his services. In response, the princess offers far more than is really necessary. There are two different things we expect in this moment: 1) The Bond moment, sanitized innuendo, "Oh, James!", cut away before anything too steamy happens; or 2) The 21st century feminist revision in which the princess scolds the protagonist for his coercion and for treating her like a cheap prize. Instead we unexpectedly get #3, in which the princess is into it and just flat-out asks for what will give her pleasure. That, to me, is not a regressive joke. That's a joke that trusts you are very familiar with options #1 and #2 and decides to amuse you by veering off in another direction that fits the rest of the film's gonzo attitude.

[Irish]

You're a grown man on the internet and you've now written 214 words explaining why you enjoyed an anal sex joke.

Isn't technology wonderful? :D

Anyway -- for the life of me, I couldn't remember what "Kingsman" was, who was in it, or any single scene until I paged back and re-read the thread. (Apparently, I liked it.)

[Skitch]

I don't disagree with anything Spinal said, I agree. BUT the part that still bothers me about it (scratch that, its been too long, "bothered" me at the time), was that he was endlessly preached "Be gentlemanly gentlemanly gentlemanly!", and it just didn't seem to be. Seemed to go against everything the character was taught.

[Spinal]

I don't disagree with anything Spinal said, I agree. BUT the part that still bothers me about it (scratch that, its been too long, "bothered" me at the time), was that he was endlessly preached "Be gentlemanly gentlemanly gentlemanly!", and it just didn't seem to be. Seemed to go against everything the character was taught.

Well, sure, but he's also taught that being gentlemanly, according to Hemingway, is this:

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self."

When the protagonist questions if he can be a gentleman with his lower-class accent, this is how his mentor responds. So, at the very least, the question of what constitutes a gentleman is up for discussion and adapts to suit each individual. This seems to be a common theme in stories like this. The mentee learns the rules, but also learns to bend them to suit their own personality. Arya Stark, The Bride, Po (Kung Fu Panda) ... etc. I would say more, but I'm conscious of adding to Irish's word count. :)

[Skitch]

I am going to watch this again. I'll be honest, I heard hints of people being offended at an anal something when I saw it the first time, and I was all prepped to laugh my ass off at how not offended I was. But then I just felt weird and put-off. I will re-evaluate.

[Irish]

I would say more, but I'm conscious of adding to Irish's word count. :)

:D I agreed with most of your reasoning (I just thought it was interesting/funny that you wanted to go into that level of detail).

I think the joke doesn't work because it was gross out sexual humor in a movie that wasn't about gross out sexual humor. I could see it work in a movie from the Farrellys or Seth Rogen, but not here.

It didn't help that the joke was proceeded by an overlong finale which was less "Bond parody" and more "action movie cliche." So it seemed to come out of nowhere. (If I have any problem with this movie, is that it does what a lot of other recent, modern parodies do -- it becomes the thing it's supposed to be lampooning. (Cf Wright's "Hot Fuzz" and "World's End")

[Spinal]

:D I agreed with most of your reasoning (I just thought it was interesting/funny that you wanted to go into that level of detail).

Oh, I definitely recognize the absurdity and knew I was setting myself up for mockery. But I do think that the question of why a joke works for some and not for others is an interesting one. I did try to be economical with my words, but I do think the joke is 'layered' - (I won't use the word 'sophisticated'. That seems a bit much.) - and not just a Rogen-style taboo breaker.


I think the joke doesn't work because it was gross out sexual humor in a movie that wasn't about gross out sexual humor. I could see it work in a movie from the Farrellys or Seth Rogen, but not here.

I mean, I guess it depends on the viewer's opinion of the sexual act in question. Certainly, the fact that it's something that will sharply divide the audience is a part of the joke's mischief. One person's gross-out is another person's .... something or other.


It didn't help that the joke was proceeded by an overlong finale which was less "Bond parody" and more "action movie cliche." So it seemed to come out of nowhere. (If I have any problem with this movie, is that it does what a lot of other recent, modern parodies do -- it becomes the thing it's supposed to be lampooning.)

You liked this movie! Or so I thought. And now you're arguing with me! Damn it, Irish! :)

[number8]

I don't even remember what joke you guys are referring to. This movie is so unremarkable and forgettable.

Several movies in, I am still trying to figure out what people like so much about Matthew Vaughn. And why do I keep watching his mediocre movies.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Didn't see Wanted or First Class, didn't much like Kick-Ass. Still surprised by how much I enjoyed Kingsman.

[number8]

He didn't do Wanted.

[Morris Schæffer]

Layer Cake he did do and I thought it was really good.

[Skitch]

I would say Layer Cake and Stardust were the best things hes directed so far, and Eddie The Eagle looks like it could be really could too but I haven't seen it yet.

[Sycophant]

That's a joke that trusts you are very familiar with options #1 and #2 and decides to amuse you by veering off in another direction that fits the rest of the film's gonzo attitude.

If there were an argument that would make the case for the joke to me, this would be it. It doesn't quite get there or my experience of the film, but reading it as an intervention in audience expectation and generic convention is the way to go.

[Dukefrukem]

He didn't do Wanted.

Did he do Eagle Eye? That movie was shitty too.

[Spinal]

I love the idea of blaming Matthew Vaughn for sub-par action movies, whether he directed them or not. I will never forgive him for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

[number8]

I'm not even sure you did this on purpose, but Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was directed by the director of Wanted. :D

[Spinal]

I'm not even sure you did this on purpose, but Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was directed by the director of Wanted. :D

I did not, but that is hilarious.

[Dead & Messed Up]

He didn't do Wanted.

D'oh, mixing up my Mark Millars.

[number8]

Is this poster also an anal sex joke?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8KuTzCUwAAMzes.jpg:medium

[Dukefrukem]

The new trailer for the sequel is phenomenal. It looks like it's really improving on some of the action. I like the idea of the American equivalent.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fvqnGmr9S8