Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Year: 2017
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Julianne Moore, Pedro Pascal, Halle Berry, Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum


Plot: When a drug lord poisons every drug user in the world with her new revolutionary drug and destroys the Kingsman's headquarters, Eggsy and Merlin head to the U.S and joins forces with their American covert relatives, Statesman, where they discover Harry, the original Galahad, is still alive.


Review: Matthew Vaughn's KIngsman: The Secret Service was a surprise hit, even for me as I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. That success paved the way for this sequel, where Vaughn expands on Kingsman's universe.

As far as our young hero Eggsy is concerned, life couldn't be better. He's a top agent who's in a relationship with a Swedish princess, but it all goes south real quick when Poppy Adams, an eccentric drug queen, destroys each one of Kingsman's secret bases and kills all their agents, save for Eggsy and Merlin. The duo discover the existence of the American version of their organization, Statesman, and travel there to seek their help. They find out that Harry survived the supposed fatal gunshot in the first film and now suffers from amnesia. The two spy teams join forces in an effort to stop Poppy, who has poisoned every drug user on earth and will only save them if the President shuts down their war on drugs.

In essence, The Golden Circle is a lot like The Secret Service, minus the part where Eggsy has to learn the ropes on how to be a super agent. We have more ridiculous stunts, fights, violence and another over-the-top villain with an over-the-top scheme. But one can't help but feel that Vaughn was overindulgent here, as he spends a lot of time on exposition and taking the long way around to get to his point, which results in this sequel being 141 minutes long. There were definitely a few things that could have been edited, including a supposedly dramatic twist at the climax which led to another excuse for a ridiculous fight sequence.

Taron Egerton and Colin Firth are still the main stars here, still kicking ass as Eggsy and Harry respectively. Egerton in particular seems to have settled in with his role quite well. Channing Tatum and Jeff Bridges only make minor appearances as Tequila and Champagne respectively, leaving Pedro Pascal with most of the Statesman's action as Whiskey. Halle Berry is okay as the Statesman's tech support Ginger Ale, but doesn't get much to do other than speak about being underappreciated by her peers. Mark Strong still scores as Merlin while Julianne Moore, like Samuel L Jackson before her, hams it up as Poppy, but comes off being more annoying than intimidating. Look out for Elton John playing himself as a prisoner of Poppy, it's quite funny actually.

Besides the overindulgence above, I was also displeased with Vaughn for eliminating a few characters from the first film here, whom I felt deserved to continue appearing in future instalments. Then there's the music choices, which were terrible, except for Take Me Home, Country Road.

All in all, Kingsman: The Golden Circle is an imperfect but fun sequel, which could use some tighter editing. (7/10)