Director: Matthew Vaughan
Cast Headliners: Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Jullianne Moore, Pedro Pascal , Halle Berry, Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, many others
Original Release Date: September 22nd, 2017
The first film in
this series, 2014's Kingsmen : The Secret Service, was a pleasantly
great surprise. It looked decent or so, but ended up being a greatly
fun wild mix of action, humor, and larger than life aspects. Of
course the announcement of a sequel has to leave one curious with
excitement for where it can go. In this second film, Kingsmen: The
Golden Circle, this potential is definitely reached as a whole.
The movie picks up
some manner of time in the wake of the prior film. Eggsy (Taron
Egerton) is now a more experienced and adept agent in the British
covert spy society “The Kingsmen”. He works with the likes of
his peers including technical support Merlin (Mark Strong), his old
friend and fellow agent Roxy (Sophie Cookson), and new leader Arthur
(Michael Gambon). Yet between his responsibilities he still has time
to see his girlfriend.. the Princess Tilde of Sweden (Hanna Alstrom)
and his various friends from his home area. Things seem great of
course, but an epic , almost 2.5 hour plot unfolds that goes to some
crazy, action-packed, and wild places.
Events eventually
transpire to where the main team of Eggsy and Merlin must seek out
their American counterparts, The Statesmen. This adds to the
star-packed cast with their agents such as the charismatic Tequila
(Channing Tatum), their technical support Ginger Ale (Halle Berry),
leader “Champ” Champagne (Jeff Bridges) , and the badass
lasso-wielding Whiskey (Pedro Pascal). They are needed to contend
with the insane villain Poppy (Jullianne Moore) of the titular Golden
Circle.
This expanded cast
does two good things for the movie. It both expands the
(ever-more-unrealistic) world's lore into interesting and epic
places. It also leads to some interesting and funny dynamics between
all the factions. An insane, wacky spy montage of people and places.
For as prim and proper the Kingsmen are in their stereotype of
England, the Statesmen are as “Murrica” as possible with their
whiskey Kentucky operations, cowboy hats and revolvers, and sense of
justice. The same hyper pulp applies to nearly every facet of this
world.
The characters
themselves are a mixed bag of use. Egerton's Eggsy is once again a
likeable and cool protagonist, here being much more skilled in battle
and dialogue but not forgetting his youthful arrogant roots. His
friendship with Merlin is a highlight, and Strong is as wiseand
helpful and occasionally as always too. Tatum's Tequila captures the
gung-ho nature of his USA peers and has some coolness and laughs
however he unfortunately is a bit of a smaller part. The same
applies to the supporting staff on both sides of the pond, from Roxy,
Arthur, Ginger Ale, Princess Tilde, and the dude Champ not having
much more than the occasional drop of exposition or a joke.
There are luckily
exceptions to this. Pascal's Whiskey is a highlight right up there
with Eggsy and Merlin. He adopts a gloriously over-hammed and just on
the borderline of cheesy “cowpoke” accent for this role, and has
some action scenes and jokes that stand highly through what his role
is. Marketing has spoiled that perhaps Colin Firth's Harry / Galahad
may not be as dead as what was shown in the last film. The reveal of
why and how is an emotional , and important feels story arc that must
be seen firsthand. But be assured that this is done well and he is
once again a highlight. Moore's Poppy is an insanely , funnily evil
Martha Stewart-esque innocent exterior kind of villian...replite with
an old-school diner and town filled with robot dogs and salonists in
the middle of jungle ruins. She is a bit over the top , but often
intimidates and charms. These aspects of the villianous side are
of course more memorable than generic henchmen such as Engel (Tom
Benedict Knight) and traitorous Kingsmen Charlie (Edward
Holcroft...although who almost reaches Bond villian memorable tier
with his metal rockem-sock-em cyborg arm). There is also Elton John
as Elton John...who well, it must be seen but he's silly and amazing
in what he adds. Various other characters show up as well such as the
President (Bruce Greenwood) and Charlie's girlfriend Clara (Poppy,
ironically enough, Delevigne) who add to the story in surprising
ways.
The plot of the
movie is long but as a whole worth it. There are many twists and
turns, as with the first one and others of this genre, that keep the
interest and stakes going. There's some deeper themes explore with
the drug trade , relationships, and amnesia that are explored to
various results. Some parts are a slowdown from what's around them,
but when the humor , ridiculousness, and action come its worth it.
Without a doubt on
those last two points, director Matthew Vaughan delivers once again.
There's a style that has become a now-trademark for him via this
series and Kick-Ass... Crazy, frenetic shots. Choice uses of popular
and original music (even in less fast paced scenes). Constant “really
now!?!?” kind of feelings. The scale has been raised from 11 to 12
for this movie in nearly every way, for better or worse. At times
this surrealness once again leads to some less than remarkable
backgrounds, but when it counts it delivers.
It's a sequel that
tries to be “can lightning strike twice”. It almost does, and
hits the same level of insanity, brutalness, crudeness, charm, and
fun as one would want. Fans of the series will be delighted, and even
as a standalone, it's a shiny, crisp, wild spy blockbuster that's
packed with memorable moments. Mixing between cheesy and truly great,
it's worth the time. 8.1 out of 10
