This was interesting, I have a friend who always mushed about the last film he saw with his ex girlfriend, and the last film he saw while he was in a relationship, so I did a bit of counter mushing about Kingsman: The Secret Service, the last film I saw while in a relationship, which ended a whole lot messier than his did, holy god. But while I have bad blood with that bitch, there's no bad blood with Kingsman, a wonderfully entertaining spy movie that revels in its old school stupidity. Thankfully so does the sequel, but does it hold up, or is it a big, dumb, stupid mess, let's find out.
The Golden Circle opens beautifully, with one of the most entertaining car chases this side of Baby Driver, and some of the most stunning action cinematography I've seen all year, and very much like the Church scene in The Secret Service, has a striking visual style and a great choice in music, it's ridiculously entertaining to watch, and it's literally the first five minutes. Then like the first one it slows right down, and we see our hero; Eggsy's home life, however now he's a Kingsman Agent with a smoking Swedish Princess girlfriend who you may remember from the first film. And just like The Secret Service, Eggsy is a fantastic main hero, as before, he's likable, funny, and a complete badass, but the film wisely gives him his weaknesses, most notable in a great flashback scene with Colin Firth. But since he's already a badass, there's not much in the way of character development for him in the film, even when Poppy's plan is ruining and ending the lives of the people he loves, which isn't to say he's an emotionally weak character, because he isn't, it's just that what emotional development you get with him has all come over from the first film. Speaking of things coming over from the first film, Colin Firth AKA Harry is back, and I was surprised to see that the explanation for him not being in the ground was actually kind of believable, in a very cheesy, over the top super spy movie kind of way, but for the majority of the film, he's more or less useless, and does literally nothing until a certain point, fortunately however, past that point he's useful, he's a badass taking out goons with an umbrella just like before, and it's good to see him back, and there is a really funny subversion of the pub fight, where this time we get to see Statesman in all their badassery. Merlin's also back, and he's as Merlin as before, so all good on the Brains front. Now, let's talk Statesman, and immediately get out of the way the fact that Channing Tatum is barely in the movie, as is Jeff Bridges, who play agents Tequila and Champagne respectively, what scenes they do have are really cool, Jeff Bridges in particular, because it's Jeff bridges, I just wish there was more, which is weird since this film is stupidly long, a point we'll get back to. Ginger, played by Halle Berry, like Merlin, is pretty cool, but falls into the same hole has Tatum and Bridges, in that there's less of her in the film than there really should be. By far the most prominent Statesman, the one who actually accompanies Eggsy and Harry on their adventure, is agent Whiskey, played unrecognisably by the Viper from Game of Thrones, who is a complete badass, as we see in the subverted pub fight, where he kicks in some teeth with a lasso. Really talking about his character in any detail would go into spoiler territory, so just know going in that he's really entertaining to watch, and where they take his character is actually pretty interesting. Poppy, our villain, is a psychopath, that's undeniable, and she is entertaining to watch, even if she's very one note throughout the film. It's worth noting that she's pretty creepy in this film, the creepy smile, the creepy charm, even the fucking music's creepy when she's on screen, she's definitely the best villain the series has had so far, and her henchman's cool too, with his cannon ball arm, because no Spy spoof is complete without a crazy henchman, the last one had blades for feet after all. And then There's Elton John, who plays Elton John, and who me and my friend couldn't stop laughing at every time he was on screen, he was really entertaining, particularly in the final showdown. It being a spy spoof, having an over the top story is important, with explains a lot about Elton John in this film, minus the flaws I'll get to, The Golden Circle really plays up the dumb spy film element, with not just the crazy gadgets, which it certainly has, but in the globetrotting, following very much in Bond's footsteps through the snowy peaks of Italy, the bustling streets of London, dense Cambodian jungles, it's all here, and for the most part the scenes when it's being that Bond spoof are really entertaining, but then there's the rest of the film.
The Golden Circle is long, really long, and part of the reason is all of the stuff it shoves in there; sure there's the main plot about stopping Poppy, which is cool, and the sub plot about Eggsy's Swedish Princess girlfriend, which I also think doesn't do the film any harm. But there's a pretty drawn out sequence at a music festival that's just awkward, there's an entire sub plot about the President of the United States that the film insists on cutting back to, and that music festival sequence adds a really un-needed drama to the film that just drags, even with the emotional pay off of that drama in mind. It wouldn't be such a huge deal if it wasn't so much of the film's runtime, and if other, much more relevant stuff like Statesman was more prevalent, but it's not, and it baffles me that important characters from the first film are just offed immediately in this one, as if to make room for all the pointless fluff. This doesn't bode well for the film, as there are times when it's pacing suffers, even with the really entertaining action sequences. What's even worse is that The Golden Circle shows that it can do subplots right, with characters like Whiskey, making all the dwelling on the President's human rights violations even more pointless. So, it's long, it's got a lot of useless subplots, but what few characters from the first film that actually survived are entertaining, and the new ones are cool, if underutilised, to that end it really comes down to those action scenes, and how are they. The film's most memorable throwdowns are the opening car chase, which you know I think is brilliant, a badass throwdown in a bar, an even more badass sequence in Italy with Whiskey laying waste to some Golden Circle goons, and of course the final showdown with Poppy, which to be honest, is where a lot of the film's failings melt away for me. I love The Golden Circle's end fight, with Eggsy and Harry assaulting Poppy's jungle hideout, it's everything Kingsman fights are made of; it's fast, loud, violent, and absurd, it's Eggsy blowing people up with a briefcase mounted rocket launcher while Elton John is rocking in the background, It's Harry smashing Poppy's robot dog's face in with a bowling ball while Elton John is yelling "fuck you Poppy" at it, it's completely out of its mind, and I fucking loved it. The same can be said of all of the fights in the film, and though a few critics I've seen don't like that the style of the Church scene is now very prominent here, I personally like it, and the fights in this film are all really entertaining, and Matthew Vaughn knocks it out of the park here, making a film that's just as stylish as the first, and one of the most visually stunning I've seen this year. It's just a shame that the pointless fluff, which is easily the weakest point of the film, puts enough of a buffer between those action scenes to hurt the film's pacing, and all the Prince and Elton John in the world wouldn't fix that.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a fine sequel; it's slick, fun, cool, and has the same charming characters as before, but like all fine sequels, it doesn't live up to the less cluttered and better paced original. When shit's going down, and goons are dying, this film excels even more than the first one, but those fights are separated by a lot of things, some relevant and cool, like Statesman, others pointless and dull, like the President subplot, or the needless relationship drama this film imposes on Eggsy. But I like the film's villain, I like the film's gadgets, and I love the film's action, and since I'm not always looking for masterpieces, it's good enough. Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a fun movie, and one that's worth watching.
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