Kingsman: The Golden Circle is the disappointing sequel to the pretty good Kingsman: The Secret Service. This film continues the story of Eggsy, young British super spy… and a whole bunch of extra side-plots in an overstuffed, too busy bloated film. It’s not a terrible movie, but it is kind of mediocre and disappointing.
The Kingsman institute gets blowed up by an evil Julianne Moore, sending the surviving members to America where they group up with The Statesmen… American’s version of the Kingsmen. They are all – every one of them – cowboys, operating out out of a Kentucky bourbon distillery. Meanwhile, Julianne Moore has cornered the market on drugs (all drugs), laced them with a chemical that will kill every user unless the US president ends the war on drugs, legalizes them,, and allows her to become the most successful businesswoman in the world.
Meanwhile we also follow Eggys (the main character) and his relationship with his princess girlfriend (the gal he rescues at the end of the first movie)… Given she only existed to drop a rude last minute joke in the first flick, I was surprised she was in this one. I kind of like what they tried to do with the two characters… Eggys is a secret agent with a full-time girlfriend which causes conflicts with some of his more bedroom-related spy work. I wish it had worked better or been more compelling.
And we follow the surprise not-dead Collin Firth (shot in the eye in the previous movie). The problem with his appearance in this film is that it was fun to see the normally stuffy FIrth turn into an action star in the first film. But the gimmick has run out so his character is no longer interesting really. But we spend a lot of time on his memory and sanity this time.
There’s a bunch of other actors who are just extended cameos. Don’t you believe Channing Tatum is in this movie – he appears and is put on ice for the majority. Halle Barry might as well not be in the movie. Jeff Bridges too. Then there’s an extended cameo by a game Elton John which is not nearly as funny as the movie thinks it is. Julianne Moore starts out interesting as a super-happy, deranged fan of the 1950s aesthetic. It’s a good idea but her character is so one-note that any fun there is runs out too quickly.
This is an action film as well and most of the action scenes are good. Frantic… but good. There may not be enough of them though and nothing goes to the insane levels of the church fight (or exploding heads) of the first film. It tries and does a lot with the energetic style.
So that’s about it… I was bored a lot in this film in between big action scenes. Part of the problem is that there’s no “point” to this film. The first was a love letter to Roger Moore James Bond films… this is just another spy movie with chuckles. And a bunch of plots and wasted actors without enough screen time. It’s not a disaster of a movie but it can be missed.
Score: 72