Written by: Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Halle Berry, Pedro Pascal
Rating: [3.5/5]
Going bigger and bolder typically becomes the goal of a sequel of a large franchise. An effort to raise the stakes, build on the characters, and somehow top what its preceding film had in store for us. Kingsman: The Golden Circle tried just that and in the effort it produced something of lesser quality but still oodles of fun when with its actors having a real blast with its ridiculous narrative.
Now a fully minted member of the Kingsman order, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) has gone through some missions but after a breach of information, the leader of a drug carter named the Golden Circle led by Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore) bombs and kills all UK-based Kingsman locations. Looking for some help with a potential threat, Eggsy heads to the United States, where he meets the American brother organization called the Statesmen.
With the first feature containing plenty of over the top bloody and violent action sequences, The Golden Circle had its vision in somehow getting weirder and even more over the top and it certainly accomplished that task. However, the question of to what end does come into play when discussing this film and with the larger set pieces and expansion of characters the film does lose some of its narrative cohesion and effectiveness. At that point it comes down to the viewer in reckoning with what matters most to them on how they will ultimately judge this film. Some will find it giving them a headache and those like myself, who just enjoys the ridiculousness of these stories even when it goes too far.
With the hits to the Kingsman locations, only Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong) remain, which creates a vulnerability we have not seen with this organization as we have someone who’s only been in for a year and the technology guy leftover. Not the best survivors for the sustainability of this organization, which leads them to the United States, and the idea and exhibition of the Statesmen in this film works so well in their inherent comedy. Just like the Kingsman essentially represent the prototypical posh British man through the way they interact and dress, we have the flip side with the Statesmen, who have even more ridiculous names and act like they are straight off a ranch. Now, this needs to be done tastefully and getting the cast members just right solidifies why it works so well given that Pedro Pascal, Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry, and Channing Tatum came to play. Pascal, specifically, truly just goes on the charm offensive in the way he navigates this film as Whiskey as he introduces the technology the Statesmen have, including a lasso that can shred people up. Definitely useful in trials to come and it makes the addition of the Statesmen all the more tolerable.
Then, however, we get to Poppy Adams and the villainous plan at the center of this film. I can certainly appreciate Julianne Moore having some fun in this evil role but after what Eggsy encountered in the first film, having to take on Poppy and this Golden Circle feels far too much like a retread. It caused nothing but eye rolls in its lack of creativity, but just like the first film, Matthew Vaughn just finds a way to keep me entertained while watching his film and he delivers in the action sequences. Even when dealing with the trite plot line of this villain, when you have robot dogs, meat mashers, and Elton John playing himself at the center of it, we can overlook some of its deficiencies. Having scenes where Whiskey swings the lasso to take out foes or having Eggsy utilize all of the tech he gets to use here, it makes for such fun sequences to follow that allow other things to just fall away from receiving criticism.
At the end of the day, when watching films like Kingsman: The Golden Circle and its predecessor, if the film has plenty working against it then we can only hope it ambushes us with much more positive to overcome. This sequel certainly does that but to a lesser degree to the first film, which still makes it such an enjoyable film to take in, deficiencies and all. Getting more time with Eggsy and his crew of people in addition to the Statesmen caused way too much fun, which comes down to Matthew Vaughn, who just knows how to captivate through his filmmaking.
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