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.

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.

'Kingsman: The Golden Circle' has everything fans of the first film could have possibly wanted and more. Action, humour and special effects are all in abundance and visually it's very impressive. The plot is decent, especially for a sequel, but it never quite reaches the same level as the first film. The British/American theme works well though and there are some very funny cultural jokes and references.

As someone who loved the first 'Kingsman', I'm pleased that the sequel didn't disappoint. It remains true to everything that made the first film such a success, including taking some big risks and thinking out of the box. The end result is an imperfect and at times messy film, but a rewarding and highly entertaining one nonetheless. 'The Golden Circle' is much better than expected but just not quite on the same level as the first film.

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.

The first Kingsman was very good and the second part didn't disappoint either. The action and effects were comparable with the first movie but think the story of the second movie was not that good. The movie had a nice pace of action from start to end and the acting was very good.

In the first movie Samual L. Jackson was outstanding as the bad guy but think this movie lacked someone like that.