Sunday, October 1, 2017

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Kingsman: The Golden Circle
The original Kingsman was a refreshing shock to the system in 2014. In an era littered with PG-13 superhero movies and a gritty James Bond here comes a brutal cartoon of a movie from Matthew Vaughn, featuring over the top violence and one of the best action set pieces in the last five years...that doesn't actually add anything to the plot. The movie was a bigger than expected hit and as such got a highly anticipated sequel. But the real question is: does the series have anywhere to go after Eggsy's ascent? I took to the theater to find out.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Sometime after his world-saving actions in the first film, Eggsy has come into his own as a Kingsman. He's in a committed relationship with a Swedish princess, he's able to fend off attacks from henchmen with robot arms, and he's moved into his mentor Harry's flat. But when almost all of the Kingsman save for Eggsy and weapons master Merlin are offed by an organization called the Golden Circle, they'll have to reach out to their American counterparts the Statesmen to find the group's leader and stop her plan that could kill millions.

So Kingsman: The Golden Circle isn't as good as the original, nor did I expect it to be. The main crux of the film is less about Kingsman saving the world antics than it is about Eggsy realizing his potential. Without that element you've got a by the book Roger Moore James Bond movie with an R-rating. The movie attempts to make up for this with a couple of new plot threads but none of them are developed enough to really hit home by the film's end. But that's not really why we came to see a Kingsman sequel. So let's judge it by it's own merits.

The New Additions: Undeveloped But Fun

Kingsman: The Golden Circle
After literally blowing up most of the original cast and setup before, The Golden Circle introduces the Statesmen, the American version of Kingsman with agents all named after booze. This includes Channing Tatum as Tequila, Jeff Bridges as Champ (short for champagne), Halle Berry as gadget girl Ginger Ale, and Pablo Pascal as Whiskey. The whole thing is played for fun with stereotypes from the weapons, including six-shooters, lassos, and baseball bats, the code names, and the ridiculous accents.

That said we don't really learn anything about the new people. There's a lot of loose plot lines including Ginger Ale's desire to be a field agent, but these are small setups to even smaller payoffs that pad the run time. Granted Pedro Pascal is awesome as Agent Whiskey in this be it from some killer action scenes to his general modern cowboy demeanor. Hard to complain about development when this guy is carrying a laser lasso.

The Villain and the Plan

Kingsman: The Golden Circle
I love Julianne Moore in every movie, but she is a perfect fit in this role as cartel leader Poppy Adams. You need someone really good to deliver a bunch of terrible puns and kill orders like a fifties housewife and Moore nails every single line. It's like if the mom from Leave it to Beaver was a sociopath and I love it. Her seventies era fifties nostalgia (yeah it's that level of absurd), also means that her laids color pallette is perfectly suited to her pale skin and red hair. Lots of hot rod reds, and bright yellows that make her stand out.

The plan is also suitably bonkers, I won't give away the details, but I will say that things go into rather unexpected directions considering her profession. More of the not so subtle parody at American politics from the first film, though not sure how much room Britain has to talk right about now...

The Gonzo Action: No Church Shootout Equivalent But Plenty of Mayhem

Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Sadly there's almost no way this film could recreate the nearly five minutes of madness that was last movie's church shootout. Nor could it really since the film's script doesn't have a setup for it, and any attempts to truly recreate it would look and feel like a pale imitation.

But since this is a Matthew Vaughn joint we've got a series of over the top action heroics paired with great music drops, which I won't spoil. The middle has a bit of a lull as the film shifts into actual esponiage and slight character development. But once things kick back up in the third act it's a whole lot of fun.

The finale is easily my favorite featuring great music, great shot selection, and a flurry of hand to hand combat, guns, and gadgets that might as well be the movie's touchdown dance. Saying much more would give things away, but this is the closest the film gets to the church scene from the first film.

If there's a notable difference it's that this film is less bloody. The gory deaths are few and far between or obscured distant shots. The best way I can describe it is that the original film had cartoonishly violent moments that made me cringe, while these made me laughs or giggle. I think this might be an intetional scaling back after critiques of the first film. Still, plenty of fun to be had.

Verdict: Still Plenty of Fun

Kingsman: The Golden Circle
If you liked the original, I can't imagine you'd dislike the second film. Sure we know all of the series tricks by now and perhaps Statesmen would work better as its own film, but you'd be hard-pressed to find another popcorn flick willing to deliver this level of fun for fun's sake. Go see it bruv'

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