Kingsman: The Golden Circle - Review
Kingsman: The Secret Service was a breakout and surprise film for many. I was late to the party on viewing that movie and I regretted it. The Secret Service had some of the best action sequences I had seen in recent years, and managed to beat out a rather uninspired story with great characters as well. I was certainly nervous when I heard about a sequel for such a movie, but was hopeful that director Matthew Vaughn was up to the task to continue the second part of his planned trilogy.
Kingsman is a riff off James Bond, and instead of being about one lone man who manages to sleep with all kinds of women, this is about a group of men and women who are an underground agency to defend the world from threats. The threat in this film is that of The Golden Circle: the largest drug cartel in the world ran by Poppy (Julianne Moore). The Golden Circle has taken the world's population hostage by contaminating all major drugs used for recreation, causing users to experience paralysis and eventually death. My first problem with this film is Poppy herself. I found Moore's portrayal to be a bit over the top and extravagant. I understand that Kingsman isn't supposed to be realistic and the plot is a bit out there, she still just was even more out there than the film.
Taron Egerton as Eggsy is again great. It's hard to believe The Secret Service was his first feature film. For this movie he isn't as much of a playboy style but a man committed to one woman. This doesn't change his character as I worried it would, and sometimes actually gives the character of Eggsy a bit more depth. Mark Strong's Merlin and Eggsy have a great relationship in this movie and I was always rooting for those two. The Statesman are also filled with high class talent, but the majority of these characters are under used in my opinion. The only two with any major roles in the film are Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) and Ginger Ale (Halle Berry). This is another fault for me with the movie, as they have a high class actor such as Channing Tatum but fail to make use of him in any major way (this isn't the first time this has occured for him).
The best part of The Golden Circle is it's action. While this should be a surprise to no one at all, Bradley Allan does a great job here. I do feel during the middle hour of the movie there is some lackluster sequences, but the first battle sequence is strong along with the final sequence. The way the camera pans around and shows the fighting is spectacular and the music matches well with what is happening on screen although it doesn't feel as unique as the original. I believe the original theme is used much less often here than in The Secret Service.
One more area that this film manages to have me feeling quite divisive is in the usage of the President. It's completely clear to me that this vision of the president is matching that of present day issues with the White House. While I don't have a problem with Kingsman trying to match events of now I fear that they leaned too much into their usage of him. Along with Poppy, this character just seemed far too out there and while I understand he is supposed to be bombastic and controversial, it just seemed to be too much in my mind. In fact when I think about it the President wasn't even necessary in the film at all but shows how the lacking story involved unnecessary elements into it.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle deals with a lot of negatives but creates manages to surpass some of these by continuing to use great action and some strong main characters to keep it balanced. If I were to tell someone which of these two movies is a better film all around I undoubtedly choose The Secret Service. The Golden Circle is a fun action flick to check out if you want something to watch without worrying about having a great story or convincing villains. I can only hope the finale of this trilogy manages to get back to what made the original so great.
