Kingsman : Le Cercle d'or

...in this follow up to the hit 2014 film from director and co-writer Matthew Vaughn. Taron Egerton stars as "Eggsy" aka Agent Galahad of the Kingsman Secret Service, a clandestine British intelligence group. After the Kingsman organization is decimated by a surprise attack, Eggsy and tech wiz Merlin (Mark Strong) head to the US to connect with the Statesman group, their American counterparts. Together they must find and defeat the Golden Circle, an international drug cartel headed by the chipper Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore).

While not rising to the high-spirited, manic fun of the first film, this is still worth a look for fans of fast-paced, comedic action films that don't take themselves seriously in the least. In many ways the plot and the villains are a rehash of the prior film, and while the Statesman characters have possibilities, they aren't fleshed out enough. The return of one character that very clearly died in the first film is something I won't go into, although the advertising made no attempt to hide his return. Elton John, as himself, has fun with his role as the unwilling prisoner of Moore's drug lord who's forced to perform his greatest hits on command. This film's centerpiece action sequence, set to John's "Saturday's Alright for Fighting", is well done, but fails to match the first film's Lynyrd Skynyrd "Free Bird" bloodbath.

Having really liked/love Matthew Vaughn's previous work, 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' was one of my favourites from him and was surprisingly brilliant, with only the somewhat tasteless ending disappointing. The follow-up and Vaughn's first sequel has enough of what 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' so good and is an entertaining film on its own but at the end of the day it feels like something is missing.

Like some have said already, 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle's' biggest flaw is the length, at nearly two and a half hours (much longer than the first film, which was just over two hours) it does feel too long by about 20-25 minutes or so and it does affect the pacing, which drags in place.

Especially when it tries to cram in a lot, not everything feels necessary and some of the narrative is on the flimsy and not quite as eventful side. For example Eggsy's excursion to Glastonbury did feel dragged out and didn't serve as much point to the story as it could have done. The first film had more content but wasn't bloated and everything served a point.

As enjoyable as the climax was, Poppy's defeat did feel anti-climactic, and Halle Berry is fairly wasted, as is Channing Tatum in what is essentially a pointless plot device role.

However, like 'Kingsman: The Secret Service', 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle' has a huge amount to enjoy. It is stylishly and audaciously made, with slick visual effects, very imaginative camera work and editing in the action scenes and audacious production design, if just lacking the operatic grandeur of the first film in the action. Once again, the soundtrack is very groovy and catchy, but is careful not to be overbearing, it is far from one-note too and fits with everything going on very well.

Vaughn does well on the whole directing, particularly on the stylistic elements and making the action as fun as possible. He does struggle maintaining narrative momentum at times however. Very like the first film, he not just achieves the right balance of humour and violence (injecting much needed fun into a genre that has become increasingly serious over the years) and keeping the story absorbing, but but standing out in particular were how he properly allows the audience to properly take in what is happening in the action, without jumping around incoherently or being static, and the huge amount of work that he even puts into the little things.

Action-wise, 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle' is fun, especially a nod to the original's bar brawl, the snow gun fight, the opening and the deliciously bonkers climax. At the same, nothing is in the same league as the unforgettable church scene and they lack the unflinching grimness. Here, when it comes to the script, nothing leaves a bad taste in the mouth, it is deliciously irreverent, sometimes raunchy, unrelentingly vulgar, at times, and very witty (like the culture-clash elements), with a plethora of laugh-out-loud funny moments. One does wish that the pacing was tighter and the story more consistently gripping.

Regarding the cast, they are top notch. Colin Firth returns and does a phenomenal job playing against type, Taron Egerton isn't quite as likable as in the original but one is engrossed enough in his journey (the Glastonbury excursion could easily have been trimmed) and Mark Strong has the ability to turn beneath-him material into gold and he is as charismatic as ever. Pedro Pascal has a Burt Reynolds vibe to him and it comes over affectionately and amusingly.

One has to credit Julianne Moore as an understated but played with relish villain and Jeff Bridges once again showing how fine an actor he is. Was pleasantly surprised by Elton John, appreciate him as a singer and his importance in rock 'n' roll but was admittedly expecting him to be a mugging disaster but he sends himself up to scene-stealing entertaining effect.

In conclusion, a fun if inferior sequel where one can see why it has garnered fairly mixed reviews but still better than given credit for. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Read to the end to see my updated thoughts.

'Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)' is essentially all a big joke played on those who took umbrage at the few select sexualised moments from the final act of the first film, a joke whereby everything is consistently ramped up to eleven regardless of its negative impact on the story. This standoffish move is meant to further separate the apparent 'critics' from the so-called 'fans', yet it only successfully provides both categories with a much worse experience. While I and many other 'fans' didn't mind (or at least excused) the passive, clearly satirical crude jests and occasional absurdity of the original picture, we certainly didn't want a follow-up based entirely around what would obviously be considered the weakest aspects of that piece - elements which were only mitigated by the joyous fun found in the brilliance of its subtle yet witty satire and its surprisingly well-developed characters. These pieces of the puzzle are now missing. Though this picture is, at times, passively entertaining, what we're left with is a fairly by-the-numbers 'save the world' plot and a string of odd action set-pieces seemingly incompetently put together. There's abhorrent use of rampant speed ramping that makes things literally look like someone hit the fast-forward button, and haphazardly stitched-together short takes that are supposed to make some sequences look like one fluid shot but instead make them look like cheap cartoons. In his quest to ignore the naysayers, Vaughn disappointingly squanders all of the good will he had built with his predecessor and bizarrely wipes the slate clean relatively early on, wasting time setting up a less interesting new set of characters instead of working with the better characters already expertly established at the end of the prior title. He also reintroduces a previously dead character (seen in the trailers), after making him an amnesiac no less, in a move that should be reserved only for a waning franchise at least five films in that's struggling to maintain its relevancy, not for what was once perhaps the most promising new property in Hollywood.

After revisiting this recently, I can safely say that it's far more fun than I originally gave it credit for. Perhaps it's because my expectations were on the floor, but I really enjoyed the film this time around. Its narrative issues are still present but somehow far less bothersome, while its action is actually really well-achieved for the most part. It leans into its ridiculousness and knows exactly what it is. It's actually a lot of fun. I guess I have to eat the words of my original review (which I'll leave above for posterity's sake), but I gladly will; after all, who doesn't want to enjoy a movie? 7/10.

What exactly was so special about Kingsman: The Secret Service to warrant a sequel this overlong, bloated & nonsensical? Sure, the first movie carried a fresh vibe and was amusing & entertaining to an extent but everything that contributed to its success and made it such a fun ride is lost in this follow-up chapter that's purely an exercise in excess. And a terrible one at that.

Set one year after the events of the first film, Kingsman: The Golden Circle finds Eggsy teaming up with the only other surviving Kingsman agent after their headquarters is completely destroyed. As the two head out to find the ones responsible, they stumble upon an allied spy organization & a familiar face, but both agencies must work together if they are to save the world from a new threat.

Co-written & directed by Matthew Vaughn (best known for Kick-Ass & X-Men: First Class), the sequel is an absolute farce from beginning to end that takes the over-the-top action of its predecessor to such levels that it becomes downright ridiculous. The new characters are awfully written & poorly integrated into the story while returning ones have nothing new to offer.

Everything that was fresh & kinetic about the first movie is exaggerated to such extent that it loses its value here. The overly-stylized action itself fails to create the same level of interest and is a tad too cartoonish this time. The story revels in foolishness but crosses that line beyond which things aren't fun but a chore to sit through. And its 141 minutes runtime doesn't help the cause either, for it is severely felt.

Coming to the performances, Kingsman finds Taron Edgerton, Mark Strong & Colin Firth reprising their roles while the new additions include Julianne Moore, Pedro Pascal, Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry & Elton John, and other than Strong, every one of them is terrible in their given roles. The stupidly named characters they play are not at all interesting, and it's clear that they all only signed up for easy money.

On an overall scale, Kingsman: The Golden Circle is an exceptionally inferior entry in the Kingsman series and is one of the worst films of the year. A dumbed down version of the original that doesn't even remember what made its predecessor click and falls flat in nearly all filmmaking departments, Vaughn's latest is a dull, rotten & atrocious piece of work that's too full of itself, and certainly isn't worth your time & money. In a word, forgettable.

I hated to see such great actors coming together in a pretty bad movie. The plot was silly and some of the characters were overdone and equally silly (Poppy). The Elton cameo was good for the first scene then was way over done. So many things wrong after a pretty good first movie. Please don't make another one.