Review of Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) by Thomas R — 03 Oct 2017

Let's get this out of the way right off the bat before going any further: the original Kingsman isn't a masterpiece. The film was entertaining, innovative, infectiously fun and above all, fresh, especially in a spy movie climate that was filled to the brim with dreary, uninspired slogs until just recently.

With that being said however, it was far from perfect, mostly due to some pacing and tonal issues. As it is, it's a good film but just good, no more, no less. Now you're probably wondering why I'm saying any of this.

Well, that's because I feel that going into the sequel, the expectations of most fans will undoubtedly be skewed to a preposterous level due to how much they loved a movie they no doubt only saw once in the dry movie season of February.

Seriously, how many people have seen Kingsman: The Secret Service a second time? I'd be willing to bet not many - and just a heads up, it doesn't hold up quite as well upon repeat viewings. Now without that skewed viewpoint, I can say that Kingsman: The Golden Circle is.

.. just okay. It's by no means terrible like some will surely proclaim it to be but it is undeniably middling and heavily flawed. The film is a prime example of a "sequelitis" successor: it doesn't have anywhere to really go this time around after the conclusion of Eggsy's arc in the first film, instead opting to play like a greatest hits reel of the first movie, constantly referencing and trying to one-up the original by being bigger in every way, and subsequently not much of significance happens.

Each subsequent action sequence is bigger and more stylish than the last, and each one leaves me feeling more numb than the last as a result. And while this fine for a bit, it gets pretty tiresome and perfunctory as quickly as you'd expect to (especially during the ending, which itself just goes on for way too long).

On top of that, it's also narratively uneven, with a bunch of dangling plotlines that are seemingly only there to take up screentime with nothing to really hold them together, ultimately going nowhere, making the movie feel simultaneously bloated yet ironically enough, pretty hollow.

Lastly, and probably worst of all, it doubles down on the over the top ridiculousness, feeling way too cartoonish for its own good. The first was ridiculous too, sure, however, it knew how to tone it down and take itself seriously when it needed to, albeit that transition wasn't always the smoothest.

Nevertheless, it stroke a nice balance between the relatively serious golden age Bond flicks that it took most of its ques from and full-blown, Austin Powers style parody. Golden Circle, on the other hand, just veers too much into the latter self-parody (Seeing a grown man being ground up into mince meat for hamburger patties is a little much, don't you think?) The movie just lacks any real sense of tension, stakes, or urgency.

There's nothing to really latch onto character or story-wise, again, like Eggsy's journey to becoming a Kingsman in the first film. Speaking of Eggsy, Taron Egerton once again proves that he is a movie star in the making, even if it is just through sheer charisma as he doesn't have much to do this time around.

All the series regulars are solid, Mark Strong as Merlin and Colin Firth as Harry, even if bringing Firth back from dead felt pretty unnecessary, since he's kind of useless and feels like he's dragging everyone else down most of the time, coming off as nuisance more than a help, not to mention that his revival takes away a crucial part from Eggsy's character arc from the first film, but I digress.

Now don't get too attached to them though, because some of the films most beloved characters get dispatched in the most "fuck you!" ways imaginable, killing them off unceremoniously for no real apparent reason whatsoever.

Vaughn made it clear that no one was safe in this franchise since the first film, but here, like everything else in the movie, he pushes it overboard. The Statesman were a promising concept, but most of them - Halle Barry, Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum - all feel wasted due to limited screentime, except for Whiskey, who tends to shine at first but does eventually wear out his welcome.

What Julianne Moore was going for with her character as a restrained psychopath with a bunch of nuanced ticks was intriguing, but it didn't completely gel with me, mostly because she's pushed to the background for most of the movie while bland henchmen get more screentime.

On top of that, her plan is pretty unspectacular, especially in comparison to Samuel L. Jackson's Richmond Valentine and his insane plan from the first movie. The whole concept of the Golden Circle as this underground criminal society felt underutilized, piling on yet another missed opportunity.

By now, it certainly sounds like I've picked the movie to shreds, but honestly, it's not as bad as I might've made it seem. It's just that the parts it gets wrong are so much more significant to the film as a whole than the parts it gets right.

And if you liked that first film, I'd be surprised if you didn't find something to enjoy in this one. The film certainly has a pulse, and a pretty rapid one at that, but it lacks a heart like its predecessor, leaving it as not much else than a mere exercise in excess.

Ultimately, The Golden Circle is a mildly entertaining sequel, but a clear step-down from the original, a forgettable follow-up, and undeniably a disappointment; it's a lukewarm step in the wrong direction for this franchise.

Hopefully Matthew Vaughn and co. can learn from their wrongs, otherwise Kingsman 3 might not be a reality, and that would be a real shame because at the end of the day, despite all the faults along the way, I still really like this universe they've created and the characters that inhabit it, especially before Vaughn gets the chance to perfect this intriguing formula that he's developed.