Kingsman: The Golden Circle Review

R:  Sequences of Strong Violence, Drug Content, Language Throughout, and Some Sexual Material 

20th Century Fox, MARV, Cloudy Productions

2 Hrs and 21 Minutes

Dir: Matthew Vaughn | Written by: Matthew Vaughn & Jane Goldman

Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Halle Berry, Elton John, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges, Hanna Alström, Poppy Delevingne, Sophie Cookson, Edward Holcroft, Pedro Pascal 

INTRO: One of the first great movies that were released to kick off the year 2015 was Matthew Vaughn’s "Kingsman: The Secret Service." I remember seeing the film a month before its release and giving it five stars without hesitation, and I still stand by that rating today. It was a fun balls-to-the-wall spy action comedy film that was a riff off of spy films while being its own spy film. Yeah, it was based off the comic book series from legendary comic book artist Mark Millar, but it had an original flair with its adaptation. The story was straightforward, the characters were likable, and most of all the action was bloody brilliant [emphasis on bloody]. I mean with “The Secret Service,” Matthew Vaughn directed arguably one of the best action sequences of all time with the ultra-violent church scene. Though it was released on the same weekend as "Fifty Shades of Grey," the film, fortunately, became a global financial success. Of course, it managed to get a sequel with Matthew Vaughn back on board unlike when he abandoned "Kick-Ass 2" after directing "Kick-Ass."

When the Kingsman headquarters are destroyed, and the world is held hostage, their journey leads them to the discovery of an allied spy organization in the US called Statesman, dating back to the day they were both founded. In a new adventure that tests their agents' strength and wits to the limit, these two elite secret organizations band together to defeat a ruthless common enemy, in order to save the world, something that's becoming a bit of a habit for Eggsy... 

DISCLAIMER

If you haven’t seen “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” then do yourself a favor and go watch it before seeing this because there are a crap ton of callbacks to the first film through dialogue and sometimes action sequences.

THE GOOD:  One of the best aspects that this movie has as a sequel is that it never lost its charm with any of the central characters. Kingsman are all about being gentlemen, and Eggsy maintains that character that he was taught to be while still being an affectionate human being opposed to someone like James Bond. For example, in every Bond film, there is a Bond girl who either always dying somewhere in the film or is left by Bond in the end only so he can hook up with another girl in his next adventure. Well after hooking up with Princess Tilde in the conclusion of the predecessor, they are established to be in an actual relationship in this. And here’s the weird part; IT WORKS! 

Though he is dating a princess, the relationship between Eggsy and Tilde is rather genuine for it works on an emotional level throughout the course of the movie. He doesn’t treat her like a Bond girl for you see he is respectful to her and actually loves her. There’s a scene where Eggsy checks in with Tilde before having to have sex with a suspect who might be involved in The Golden Circle. I’m sorry, but if I had to choose to be either a Kingsman agent or a 00 agent, I would easily choose the Kingsman because they are overall much better spies & much better people.  You would think the film would be centered more on the relationship between Eggsy and Harry, but its emotion works primarily with the relationship between Eggsy and Tilde.

When it comes to production design, the film features a ton of cool set pieces that are cleverly designed and put together. If you have seen the concept art behind some of the settings, you can tell a lot of work went into making different places come to life. You have the Statesman Headquarters which is impressively imaginative from the codes names to the how you even enter the facility. Then you have Poppy’s liar named Poppyland which is pretty much like a mini mall in the middle of a jungle, and it's so gorgeous and fancy to look at. It has a 1950s appearance with the setting especially when Moore's wardrobe fits along with it. 

CAMEO OR NOT TO CAMEO

I wouldn’t consider his role a cameo for he has an extensive appearance is the film (his name is even on the bloody poster for God’s sake), but Elton John is one of the brightest parts of this movie. Every time he is onscreen, he will have you cracking up hysterically because of the crazy scenario that he is in and his reaction to everything going on. Granted, there's way too much John by the time the film hits its climax, but he finds a way to take you by surprise. Seriously, what other movie would you find Elton John as a Deus ex Machina device? 

THE VAUGHN IS BACK AND SADISTIC THAN EVER

One of the best things I love about watching films from Matthew Vaughn is seeing how over the top he can get when presenting violence. When it comes to Matthew Vaughn, there is no realism with his violence for they are cartoonish as hell. If you have ever seen any Vaughn film, you know how disgusting his outlook on violence can be, and it is engrossingly pleasing to watch. In "Kick-Ass," you had people getting microwaved, crushed inside cars, and Mark Strong getting blown up by a bazooka. In “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” you had people getting spliced, diced, and getting heads blown up like mini fireworks (it didn’t make sense, but it was unquestionably excellent). Vaughn still manages to remind you that this is an R-rated movie by incorporating to the craziest thing he hasn't done yet: cannibalism. Let’s just say there is a meat grinder and boy is it a fun fatality whenever it is utilized. Besides going "South Park" style with his kills, Vaughn still makes his action sequences look both visually pleasing and exhilarating to watch. Though some of the sequences are updated replicas of elements taken from the first film, the choreography is still insanely well done, and the action is thoroughly entertaining.

THE BAD: You know how the first Kingsman was great partially due to how meta it was? Well, all that self-aware cleverness that was in the script has been thrown right out of the window for this plays as just a spy sequel that tries its best to replicate the best elements of its processor while attempting to go bigger and over the top with its action and its comedy.

Watching this movie is the equivalent to how "Kick-Ass 2" turned out to be. You know how Matthew Vaughn directed the first Kick-Ass but left Jeff Wadlow to direct "Kick-Ass 2" which was a messy poor imitation of the first "Kick-Ass" movie. Though this is Vaughn’s first time doing a sequel, it seems like he’s been taking lessons of storytelling from Jeff Wadlow because "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" is a messy poor imitation of "Kingsman: The Secret Service." If Jeff Wadlow would've directed this movie, this probably would've ended up as the same product just without the great action sequences only Vaughn can make fun.

SEQUELITIS

Right when the movie begins, the film immediately suffers from the #1 symptom nearly every unnecessary sequel falls under: sequelitis. You have secondary antagonists from the first flick returning to do similar actions from the predecessor that led to their defeat and uh-oh they learned from that mistake only to follow up with a massive action sequence. Mind you; this is within the first minutes of the film. This is "Kingsman," and the film opens like a "Fast & Furious" movie.

As a continuating sequel, the story is a huge mess. The movie tries to cover itself up with clever transitions, but there are way too many plot threads, subplots, visions, and flashbacks in the entire two acts of the film to poorly foreshadow predictable events that would happen when it gets near to the climax. One example is when you have two intelligence agents stop in the middle of guiding their field agents through a mission to talk to each other and pretty much say, "BOY! WOULDN'T IT BE NICE TO BE A FIELD AGENT?" and then get back to the task at hand. They literally insert an unnecessary subplot that predictably foreshadows in the middle of a set piece?! 

TIME IS NOT REAL!

Just like season season of "Game of Thrones," the continental traveling in "Kingsman" does not abide by time but by connivance. I swear there are no such things as time zones in this movie. You have scenes where characters are traveling from England to America to other parts of the country in a matter of 30 seconds or less. There are also scenes where characters are having conversations in England where it is bright daylight and then quickly travel back to the eastern side of America where it is also daylight as if there is no such thing as a seven hour difference. What makes it even worse is that they would start a conversation in one country and continue it in the next scene which would bring them to do entirely different part of the world.

WOW YOU SCREWED HIM UP

You have Edward Holcroft reprising his role as Charlie Hesketh who is one of the several primary antagonists in the movie. Where in the first film, Charlie was known to be a snobby asshole. In this, all of the characteristics that made Charlie such an asshole is gone as he becomes as one-note as a Marvel villain. The film explains how he has a robotic arm this time around, but I guess once he lost his arm, his charismatic personality left as well. Seriously the guy walks around in this all Winter Soldier like while delivering dialogue in such a monotone voice as if he doesn't want to be there. HE IS STILL THE SAME PERSON JUST WITH A ROBOTIC ARM! There is no reason to have Charlie be just so damn boring. I would expect him to be egotistical at least similar to Doctor Claw mixed with a little bit of The Riddler, but no robotic arm means robotic character I guess. 

BIGGER BUDGET, CHEAPER VFX

I love how Fox clearly gave Vaughn a much bigger budget, and yet the VFX looks so poorly rendered for a significant portion whenever CGI is used. Where the hell did the most of the money go to? Elton John? Whenever there needs to be an incorporation of CG with its action sequences or just for a regular scene, you can obviously tell when something was shot on either a sound stage or was fully digitalized and it's sometimes jarring. Some effects would be considered on a Sy-Fy level of cheap at some points, and it shouldn’t look like that especially for a sequel released in premium formats like IMAX.

MOORE IS LESS

Julianne Moore delivers a fine performance as the antagonist, Poppy Adams who comes off as threatening in every psychotic way possible, but the issue with her character is that her goons aren’t as threatening as the previous film's antagonist Valentino. Poppy is a messed up villain whose plan establishes a political undertone that you wouldn’t expect from this movie. The main downside is that her right-hand man is Charlie who (as mentioned earlier but will remind to show how insignificant he is) HAS A ROBOTIC ARM! She does have two lethal robot dogs that are frightening, but nothing comes close to be as terrifying as Gazelle and her knife legs. While Samuel L. Jackson and Sofia Boutella shared an interesting chemistry that elevated the sense of urgency in the predecessor, Moore is pretty much on her own. The film tries to establish a bond between Poppy and Charlie, but they are just so damn generic as antagonists go. Shoot, if this had Doctor Poison and General Ludendorff from "Wonder Woman" in this, they would work perfectly for this film’s tone which made you get at least slithers of urgency.

LAST STATEMENT: Though it suffers from every shape and form of sequelitis from its jumbled story to its annoying callbacks to its predecessor, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” is a so-so serviceable sequel for fans of "The Secret Service" that works solely on its action, set pieces, and charismatic performers.

Rating: 3/5 | 65%

Super Scene: ROCKETMAN!