When I watched the end-credits roll for the first Kingsman, I called my older brother before I even left the theater. I knew immediately that he would greatly appreciate the mixture of excitement, humor, and tasteful carnage that I had just experienced. Kingsman: The Secret Service was the biggest surprise of that year, far exceeding my already high expectations. It seamlessly blended Tarantino-esque action, interesting characters, and an omniscience of its slight absurdity. It’s in the canon of movies that have their own “scene”. You know that scene. The one that will be talked about for the rest of time and we all know exactly what it is. It was the Church scene that officially made me say “I have to call [aforementioned brother] after this”. I had never seen chaos and violence so visceral done so elegantly.
Kingsman put a new footprint into the spy genre, fitting somewhere between James Bond and The Spy Who Shagged Me. It didn’t take itself too seriously, but it wasn’t a parody. It leaned on its comic book origins to take a grounded spy adventure, add fantastical elements, kick the action up about 50 knots and then take you on a 2-hour roller coaster ride with no breaks until those credits roll. Three years later, Kingsman: The Golden Circle takes that same formula and injects it with a shot of Red Bull straight to the neck.
It takes no longer than two minutes (next time I’ll time it…) and maybe 20 words (…and count it) to get straight into an amazing yet relentless action sequence through the streets of London with the protagonist Eggsy (Taron Egerton) being chased by three cars while shot at, thrown in and out of a car, dragged from said car, and finally holding his breath while water floods into the broken windshield of that car. Whatever exhausting feeling you just got reading that very long, non-stop sentence is the feeling you will have throughout this movie. However, The Golden Circle balances out its high-octane tomfoolery just enough to stop short of other sequels’ pitfall into the “bigger and better (and more bloated) than the original” syndrome.
After the opening sequence, we find Eggsy coming into his own as a veteran Kingsman. He saves the world while still finding time to celebrate his best friends’ birthdays and meet his girlfriend’s parents. This all comes to a screeching halt when the leader of a worldwide drug cartel (Julianne Moore as Poppy) blows up every Kingsman stronghold in one fell swoop. With Eggsy and tech guru Merlin (Mark Strong) being the sole surviving Kingsman, they look for a way forward and come to discover their “cousin” organization in America, The Statesman. Together they must band together to bring down Poppy and her plan to threaten the lives of millions across the globe.
Julianne Moore fits right in with the over the top nature of Kingsman. Somehow, she is even more exaggerated than Samuel L. Jackson’s lisp in the original. But while Nick Fury had some semblance of sanity in Secret Service (alliteration abounds!), Moore is just flat out crazy. All you gotta do is look in her eyes and see that Moore took full advantage of the fun to be had in this movie.
She didn’t hold any insane back. At times it seemed the fun she was having overtook any thought of subtlety that could have made her character scarier. Her ambitious endgame is the only thing that seems to have some reason to it, All of it together made her come off more goofy than scary. Fortunately, she is the only thing in the movie that feels overblown. Every other actor fit the tone of the movie impeccably.
Taron Egerton was born to play Eggsy. Born in the slums, raised into a gentleman, and able to code switch when necessary without losing the best qualities of each side. He embodied a sophisticated edge while playing the part with an endearing innocence. The audience truly feels for him when he has to make a tough decision involving work and his relationship (we laugh, but we still feel for him). He carries the lead of this movie without a problem, and does so without getting swept up by the weight of great actors and actresses around him.
The Statesman (Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry (hallelujah), and Pedro Pascal) complement the Kingsman’s refined etiquette with different aspects of southern charm. Berry’s Ginger Ale is the sweet southern belle. Tatum’s Agent Tequila is the charming bad boy. Pascal’s Agent Whiskey is the cocky veteran. Bridges’ Champagne (AKA Champ) is the all-knowing, easy going leader of the pack. Their dynamic (I think I have found a way to put this word into EVERY SINGLE REVIEW so far) with the Kingsman creates both a tension and a comradery that makes their addition to the movie more than just an add on for sequel’s sake. 3 out of 4 of them were actually utilized too little in the movie. Bridges and Tatum were especially mesmerizing in each of their scenes. Hopefully there will be much more of them in Kingsman 3.
Mark Strong’s Merlin is one of the few holdovers from the original, and he is the heart of the movie. When I saw him in Secret Service, I was silently praying for him not to turn out to be a double agent. I am so used to Strong always playing the villain that seeing him be a hero for a whole movie was very refreshing. In both the original and the sequel, he takes the intensity he brings to his British Bad Guys and translates it into a sincerity and heroism that permeates through every pore of his being. Merlin is an indispensable member of the Kingsman and Strong is an indispensable member of this cast. His rendition of “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, just…
Colin Firth also returns as Harry. This is one of the biggest questions coming into Golden Circle, especially if you have seen Secret Service (if you haven’t then I am sorry for this coming spoiler). After figuring out how Harry was not dead after getting shot point blank in the face
I couldn’t help but be disappointed. The reasoning was a cop out. Had me asking (without spoiling too much) “but in the first one couldn’t they have…” and “why weren’t they…”, basically it created a gaping plot hole in the first movie. If you do something in the sequel that makes you retroactively question the original, then maybe that decision wasn’t necessary. But if you suspend judgement, Firth is just as enthralling in this movie as the first. A wrinkle in his character’s psyche actually saves the movie from doing something too predictable. I saw a critical plot point from a mile away. As soon as I caught it, Firth points out that exact point and makes the unveiling of said point 10 times more interesting had the movie not been self aware.
One last unexpected character of the movie that was it's soundtrack. It had its own life and purpose in keeping the tone of the movie fun and light. It starts about 10 seconds into the opening sequence and reminds everyone that you are here to enjoy this movie, so hold on to your butts (yes that was a shameless Sam Jackson quote circa Jurassic Park). Every time the movie begins to go into way-too-outlandish mode, the music comes back to say “hi everybody, get that stick out ya ass and loosen up”.
It also lends weight to probably the best (and most ridiculous) cameo I have ever seen . They did a really great job keeping that a secret, and boy did it pay off.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle takes the great performances of all these characters and focuses on them as much as it does on the frenetic action sequences. I went into the movie expecting bloody set piece after bloody set piece. There is definitely still plenty of the stylized action. Swooping close ups and fade outs are utilized heavily to make the action more chaotic and personal. But the movie and the actors also allow the audience to get just as personal with the characters. The actors create real people living within a ridiculous life. They believe in the small and large things that happen to them. Everything they see is completely and 100% plausible. That creates the exact atmosphere needed for the audience to suspend belief, have fun, and still take the movie serious enough for it not to turn into a farce. Kingsman: The Golden Circle gets a 7.5/10 custom made Kingsman suits and Statesman Whiskey shots. Go see this one in theaters