For the first time in his career, Vaughn, alongside long-time writing partner Jane Goldman returns to direct a sequel to the film he directed, having previously only produced on Kick-Ass 2, followed by a story credit on Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past, and with the follow-up Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Vaughn faces a daunting task to even match the rousing reception of the original.
As the Kingsman organisation are whipped out by The Golden Circle's 50's-obsessed villain in Julianne Moore's Poppy, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) and Merlin (Mark Strong) seek refuge with their American counterparts, the aptly-named The Statesman, who fronts as a Bourbon distillery in Kentucky (fried chicken?). There, they'll team up with their alcohol-code named American counterparts to take down the latest megalomaniac in the form of Poppy (Julianne Moore), a drug lord with a penchant for fifties diner aesthetic and Elton John.
Kingsman: The Secret Service may have taken the best bits of 55 years of Bond cliches, The Golden Circle is perhaps the most Roger Moore-ish of Roger Moore Bond films, ratcheting its cheesiness up to 11, as delves deeper into the many highlights of that era, from European alpines, fun gadgets and super-powered henchmen (laser lasso? Somebody call JJ!). The bonkers action which quickly became the centerpiece of the franchise returns as the sequel retains the violence, vulgarity and the self-awareness which made its predecessor such an endearing piece of work, or to quote Mark Strong in the original's exploding head scene "THIS IS FUCKING SPECTACULAR".
The original may be known for its outrageous church shootout or its training moments, and The Golden Circle relishes in continuing the action absurdity all the way through its 140 minute runtime. For the sequel, Vaughn and Goldman really tipped the scales in favour (more on that scale later) of the hyperviolent, and it certainly accomplishes so right from the get go, with a close-up fight on board a British taxi as Eggsy tussles with a former rival-turned-evildoer. It's not afraid to venture into the insanely silly either, as we're treated to killer robot dogs, penetrating trackers and a sweary ACTUAL Elton John, whose involvement here only adds to the zaniness here. Action definitely complements what has came before it, though most of the below par/shoddy CGI, even if needed for many of the ridiculously entertaining scenes, can become borderline distracting.
The Secret Service really blew the doors open by not only offering the intense R-rated action and humour, but deep characterizations of protagonists who would usually have mysterious backgrounds (especially in the spy genre), portraying Egerton's Eggsy as a young man initially dogged by poor upbringing who eventually fulfills his potential and save the girl. While original centrally focused on Eggsy's transformation, he's a full-fledged Kingsman by the time The Golden Circle rolls around, and he was soon relegated our focal point in this expanding universe. The return of his mentor Harry Hart (Colin Firth) from supposed dead does rekindle the emotional stakes of the original, but those soon made way for more banter and action. Eggsy's character development was built up so well in the original just seemed to grind to a halt in the sequel, and this was what we feel was one of The Golden Circle's few pitfalls.
Kingsman: The Secret Service may have taken the best bits of 55 years of Bond cliches, The Golden Circle is perhaps the most Roger Moore-ish of Roger Moore Bond films, ratcheting its cheesiness up to 11, as delves deeper into the many highlights of that era, from European alpines, fun gadgets and super-powered henchmen (laser lasso? Somebody call JJ!). The bonkers action which quickly became the centerpiece of the franchise returns as the sequel retains the violence, vulgarity and the self-awareness which made its predecessor such an endearing piece of work, or to quote Mark Strong in the original's exploding head scene "THIS IS FUCKING SPECTACULAR".
The original may be known for its outrageous church shootout or its training moments, and The Golden Circle relishes in continuing the action absurdity all the way through its 140 minute runtime. For the sequel, Vaughn and Goldman really tipped the scales in favour (more on that scale later) of the hyperviolent, and it certainly accomplishes so right from the get go, with a close-up fight on board a British taxi as Eggsy tussles with a former rival-turned-evildoer. It's not afraid to venture into the insanely silly either, as we're treated to killer robot dogs, penetrating trackers and a sweary ACTUAL Elton John, whose involvement here only adds to the zaniness here. Action definitely complements what has came before it, though most of the below par/shoddy CGI, even if needed for many of the ridiculously entertaining scenes, can become borderline distracting.The Secret Service really blew the doors open by not only offering the intense R-rated action and humour, but deep characterizations of protagonists who would usually have mysterious backgrounds (especially in the spy genre), portraying Egerton's Eggsy as a young man initially dogged by poor upbringing who eventually fulfills his potential and save the girl. While original centrally focused on Eggsy's transformation, he's a full-fledged Kingsman by the time The Golden Circle rolls around, and he was soon relegated our focal point in this expanding universe. The return of his mentor Harry Hart (Colin Firth) from supposed dead does rekindle the emotional stakes of the original, but those soon made way for more banter and action. Eggsy's character development was built up so well in the original just seemed to grind to a halt in the sequel, and this was what we feel was one of The Golden Circle's few pitfalls.
Just like the first installment, every character seems to be having a blast during filming, right down to Mark Stong's usually stoic Merlin, who at not one, but two points belts out John Denver's Country Road. The addition of the Statesmen was definitely the obvious and interesting way forward for the franchise, but it's so under-utilised here that you'll wonder why they bothered to send Eggsy and Merlin to Texas in the first place. You don't cast Oscar winners and nominees such as Halle Berry and Jeff Bridges (also non-nominee Channing Tatum) only to have them prop up for a few minutes. All the American counterparts, seemed to have done all their scenes within days, leaving Narcos star Pedro Pascal as the sole Statesmen representative on the adventure.
And for those thinking "at least we have most of the characters from the first one, I can't wait to see more of them", you'll be hard pressed to know that many of them are only limited to rather small appearances. That leaves Egerton to carry the film along most of the time, and that's a hard act to follow from the first outing when you could share screen time alongside Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson. Speaking of the former, Firth's return from the dead makes (sort of) sense, but would have made a more effective impact had the marketing team withheld such a reveal from the very beginning.
It's impossible to argue that Kingsman: The Golden Circle is NOT two and a half hours of pure, fun action spectacle, but stacked along its predecessor, and the sequel becomes quite a letdown as an overall package. The original The Secret Service may have thrived under the unexpected, but Vaughn's first directorial sequel, which is perfectly entertaining on its own, seems to have fallen short against the expected high benchmarks set by its predecessor.
Despite the addition of a fistful of characters played by stars of Oscar-caliber, the much advertised Statesmen barely served as a plot device, and The Golden Circle as a whole, even if it gets high marks in the action department, is severely lacking the heart and soul that served as one of the major factors which we believe made the original the surprise box office and critical hit in 2015. It's like eating main course with only the meat: it's definitely the best part, but without the peas and mash, it just doesn't feel complete. It's no catastrophe, but this sequel is a tiny blotch in Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman's squeaky clean filmography... maybe that's why they've rarely gone down the sequel route.
7.0 / 10
Also:
Out of all the wacky stuff happening in #KingsmanTheGoldenCircle, its most outrageous was Fox News reporting on a Presidential impeachment 😂— Joseph Wong (@joethewong) September 22, 2017
