Score: B+
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Starring Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Julianne Moore, et. al.
Running time: 141 minutes
Rated R
Long Story Short: The Golden Circle is a follow up to the surprise hit Kingsman, a film where manners may maketh man, but the action and humor is liberated for maximum fun. This sequel is too long, stuffed with more of everything and an even crazier plot, but the great tone and style is the same and there's plenty of thrilling action and sharp humor. Should be seen by those who enjoyed the first, and it's worth recommending to anyone who enjoys the genre in general, too.
A year after saving the world, Eggsy (Egerton) continues his work as an agent in the secret Kingsman organization. Upon leaving headquarters in London one night, however, he encounters a former fellow Kingsman trainee, Charlie, who had switched sides but also apparently died. Eggsy barely escapes Charlie as they race through the city, and he goes home to see his girlfriend. During the attack, Charlie had managed to hack the Kingsman network, and that night a series of missile attacks effectively destroy the organization, leaving only Eggsy and loyal trainer and staffer, Merlin (Strong). The two initiate the Kingsman "Doomsday" protocol, and find themselves seeking a sister organization in America. There they meet an old friend, and learn about a mysterious new international criminal outfit known as the Golden Circle. Eggsy, Merlin and their new allies race to find the Circle's leader and stop its evil plans - before it's too late for millions around the world.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle has an impressive cast of stars, including much of the original and many new faces as well. Taron Egerton returns to lead as Eggsy, who has grown past reformed criminal and novice agent, to full-fledged Kingsman agent. While his character didn't lack for confidence in the first film, he is now assured in his role and is now a more typical hero type. Egerton gets to display his impressive charisma early on, cocky yet self-effacing and amusing, but there's little development of the character as the film progresses. Well-known spoiler alert: Colin Firth also returns as Eggsy's partner, Harry Hart or "Galahad". His role is somewhat diminished here, but also one of the more interesting as his character battles amnesia. Firth does a good job with this "different" character, and as he slowly recovers the relationship dynamic with Eggsy is subtly modified. Mark Strong is once again, well, very strong in his role as Merlin, a sort of Q-meets-Alfred who also kicks ass; he gets a more significant part in this one, too. Julianne Moore plays the new villain, Poppy Adams, a seemingly saccharine sweet woman who is in fact even more brutal and ruthless than her predecessor, Samuel L. Jackson. She gets relatively little screen time, but makes a big impact. Elton John gets an unexpectedly large and pretty bonkers role, while most of the other new stars are fine but also limited to essentially cameos (Halle Berry, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges).
The Golden Circle is a more flawed and less original film than the first Kingsman, but it retains much of the great style of the first and gives us more of, well, pretty much everything. Writer/director Matthew Vaughn returns, along with the tone of serious enough to not be strictly parody, but also with a certain freedom from reality through comic book-like elements and great humor, both overt and tongue in cheek. I find this balanced tone excellent, just like in the original. The plot, however, stretches this tone to the limit. It is similar to the original: a megalomaniac threatens widespread death and destruction with a plan that involves a contemporary hot topic (war on drugs this time) taken to an absurd level. But the U.S. government plays a role, too, this time, with amusing political commentary yet also overboard; the introduction of an American version of Kingsman itself is interesting but also a bit much. There is even more action in this installment, most of it quite good, especially the opening scene car chase. It achieves a great balance of just enough realism-and outstanding choreography- with impossible but very cool comic book-like effects. There is a lot to like in the climactic battle, too, including an Elton John-soundtracked start and a bravura 2-vs-1 ending. But it's also almost exhaustingly long, like the film itself (nearly two and a half hours). There are plenty of great scenes, moments, and ideas, but the impact of each is diminished with just so much going on; a twenty or thirty minute trim might have done wonders.
***
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a highly entertaining sequel that doesn't quite live up to the stand out original, but is still quite well-made in its own right. A warning: this film's tone, violence and humor are not for everyone. It all works for me very well, but I'm also well aware that it will repel others equally strongly. If you are as immature as I am, though, and entertained by a little action and humor that pushes the envelope (still far short of where some other films go), you might want to give this a try, or at least the original. The critics have given it a fairly mediocre 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, but I think this mostly proves there are those who just aren't able to enjoy this type of film at all (which is me when it comes to horror movies). If you've seen the first, I'd recommend this for a theater viewing but if not, you might want to wait for it to come to Netflix/streaming.
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