Movie Review: Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Kingsman: The Golden Circle ** ½ / *****

Directed by: Matthew Vaughn.

Written by: Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn based on the comic book by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons.

Starring: Taron Egerton (Eggsy), Mark Strong (Merlin), Colin Firth (Harry Hart), Julianne Moore (Poppy), Hanna Alström (Princess Tilde), Channing Tatum (Tequila), Halle Berry (Ginger), Elton John (Elton John), Jeff Bridges (Champ), Pedro Pascal (Whiskey), Poppy Delevingne (Clara), Edward Holcroft (Charlie), Tom Benedict Knight (Angel), Bruce Greenwood (President of the United States), Emily Watson (Chief of Staff Fox).

 

The first Kingsman movie from 2015 was a surprise hit – a fun, over-the-top action movie that probably shouldn’t have worked as well as it did, but dammit, it did anyway. It was hardly a perfect film – at 130 minutes, it was way too long, and kind of ran out of steam after the great Church action sequence – and there was an anal sex joke near the end that left a bad taste in my mouth (although considering the sequel makes two, non-explicit references to said joke, perhaps I was alone there). It was not the type of movie that demanded a sequel, but it certainly was the type of movie in which a sequel could be easily made – being based on a comic book and all, one supposes that there are lots of stories that have already been told about these characters. The best thing that can be said about the movie is that if you’re a big fan of the first film, you’ll like this one as well – it is essentially the same movie, with the same over-the-top stylized action sequences, the same nihilism at its core – the same pretty much everything. It doesn’t have a sequence that comes close to that Church sequence however, and is even longer than the first film, so that by the end I was just tired and wanted out of there. But, on the plus side, Julianne Moore is an absolute delight, so there’s that.

 

The sequel opens with essentially all the Kingsman who are not our hero Eggsy (Taron Egerton) and gadget wizard Merlin (Mark Strong) being killed by a series of missile strikes (you would think having that many misses exploding in London would be a bigger news story than it appears to be here, but I digress) – and Eggsy and Merlin having to enact the Doomsday scenario – which after some complicated plot mechanisms, takes them to Kentucky – where they meet their American counterparts – the Statesman. They team up and have to fight another insane billionaire – this time it’s Poppy (Julianne Moore), who apparently controls ALL the illegal drug trade in the world, but is tired of living her life in secrecy, on her island compound that is made to look like the set of a 1950s nostalgia movie.

 

If you walk into this Kingsman movie having seen the first one, you know what you’re going to get here – and this film delivers MORE of it. More action, more style, more “witty” banter, more sex jokes – more everything. I didn’t really buy Eggsy relationship with Princess Tilde – the Swedish Princess of the aforementioned anal sex joke near the end of the first movie – because this really isn’t a series about relationships and feelings – everything moves too fast for that, and the series is so cynical that a genuine emotion isn’t possible. The film tries to outdo everything about the first film – but really cannot. I will say, I almost appreciate the fact that they killed off all the Kingsman in one foul swoop at the beginning – because if we had to keep track of them and the Statesman, it would have been chaos. I don’t think the likes of Jeff Bridges and Channing Tatum add all that much to the series – both probably have less than 10 minutes of screen time, and do nothing except play off their charm, but hell, they are charming. Pedro Pascal and Halle Berry have more to do – and they do it just fine, I suppose. I don’t know what the hell Elton John was doing in this movie – and why he was in it so much (it’s bigger than a typical cameo – hell, I think it’s bigger than Tatum or Bridges role) – and even though he’s not a good actor, I did typically enjoy him on screen. The returning players are all fine, I guess, although Colin Firth seemed bored throughout the film. The best thing in it – easily – is Julianne Moore, playing a wholesome, chipper psychopath. No, it’s not exactly an original role – but Moore absolutely kills it anyway. I loved every moment she was on screen.

 

I do wish more action sequels would try something different with their follow-ups – give the audience something they do not expect, rather than something they do. I understand why risk averse Hollywood doesn’t – but still, I wish it were so. The first Kingsman was a surprise – a fun action that looked terrible in the previews, but won you over. You cannot be surprised by the same tricks twice – which is pretty much why, while The Kingsman: The Golden Circle is far from a terrible movie, it’s also fails to impress the same way the original did