Kingsman: The Golden Circle was a long-awaited sequel for me, as the first in the franchise, Kingsman: The Secret Service, is one of my favorite action films of all time. The Secret Service was witty, fast-paced, visually gorgeous, and full of some of the best action sequences of all time. The Golden Circle, even though living up to the hype, did not meet all of my expectations that were set by the first film. This film is not by any means bad, it is a wonderfully well-done sequel, but that is just it: it is a sequel. Even though it did not meet the standards set by its predecessor, it has proven to be a worthy addition to this Matthew Vaughn cinematic universe.
This film had so many wonderful aspects that are trademark of Matthew Vaughn's style of filmmaking. While it still contained the long-shot style of action sequences, it was definitely more focused on character development and world-building than the first in the series. This was very good, though, because while The Secret Service was an amazing film, it did not do much for building character except for the main character Eggsy. The Golden Circle did a lot for not just Eggsy, but a lot of the other supporting characters as well, and I very much appreciated that. While we saw the return of Colin Firth's character Harry, we also got even more of Mark Strong's Merlin, who ended up being one of my favorite parts of this film. Some new additions that were very well done were Julianne Moore's villain character Poppy and Pedro Pascal's secretly-villainous character Whiskey. These were some of the strongest performances throughout, and contributed very well to the tone set by the first of these films. Last but not least, the action sequences. The infamous church scene in the first film has been glorified as one of the most extraordinary displays of action and violence in a film, but the sequel did not exactly meet those standards. That is the first of one of the multiple issues surrounding this film.
This film, like many sequels, has its share of problems. The first would be surrounding the plot of the film. First off, let me just get out of my system how UPSET I am about the death of Roxy and JB in the first act of the film. Not only did they get rid of the most important character in any film, the dog, but they also nonchalantly exterminated the only character who actually passed the Kingsman test. This made me so sad because there was so much potential for Roxy's character and her relationship development with Eggsy and Merlin, but I guess we don't always get what we want. As for other characters that I was disappointed with, I really wish that we could have seen more of Channing Tatum's Tequila. He was so hyped up in the previews and marketing, I thought that he would have a much better role. Instead, they drugged him with the villain's evil serum and he wasn't seen until the end of the film. This was kind of disappointing because I was very excited to see him and his role as a Statesman.
As far as action scenes go, this film did not live up to the first or have as many memorable scenes. The very first scene was very contained and repetitive, and did not have much effect on me since I knew Eggsy would be fine. The only two scenes that really stuck out to me as original were the snow lift and final fight scenes. The winter aspect of the film was what made it so visually interesting this time around, but I felt they could have done more instead of watching Pedro Pascal's Whiskey do all of the dirty work. And speaking of Whiskey, the very final fight against him was done very well and was very catchy to a country version of "Word Up!" by Cameo. These were the only action scenes that were memorable in any sort, but they still desperately tried to live up to the church scene from the first film, to no success. My last main problem with this film was the overall plot. While there were a few strange plot lines that could have been handled better (Harry's return, Eggsy's relationship with the Princess, etc.), the main arc with Julianne Moore's Poppy was not original in the slightest. It was almost a carbon copy of the plot from the first film: a maniac with childlike and playful tendencies convinces world leaders that they have a solution to a bigger problem and uses an everyday tool to put their global plan in motion. This applies to both films very well, and while it worked for the first, it provided nothing new for the second. This disappointed me, because I was expecting a lot more, especially from Matthew Vaughn. The lack of original story was almost made up for, however, by Elton John's performance. I thought he was going to be just a mere cameo, but his actually critical presence in the film was hilarious and fabulous.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a worthy successor to the first film, but nothing more than that. It was not an extraordinary film by any standards, but I would say that it lived up to the hype and advertising from the past few months. If you were a fan of the first film, I would definitely recommend seeing this one as it absolutely adds to the amazing world of the Kingsman.
My Review: ★★★★
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