Warning: this review contains some spoilers for the first
Kingsman film and this one.
I’ve gotta admit, I’ve always enjoyed the sillier of the old
Roger Moore James Bond films. Sure, they had all the plausibility of a drunken
uncle’s economic policy proposals, but once you get past them not giving a crap
about that, there’s a kick to be had from bad guys with giant orbital space
stations dispensing killer flower spores or transforming submarine sports cars.
And that’s the sort of thing Matthew Vaughn’s 2015 film Kingsman: The Secret
Service, based on the Mark Miller graphic novel, sort to emulate—and it did oh
so nicely.
It wasn’t completely perfect—there were a couple of fourth wall
moments that weren’t so much winking at the camera as making a great big cheesy
obnoxious grin at it—but you gotta love Samuel L. Jackson as a lisping
supervillain, and the stylish action sequences were a good contrast to the
shakeycam brutality of Bourne. And that brings us to the sequel Kingsman: The
Golden Circle, with new bad guys and good guys, along with most of the familiar
faces of the old film. Does it match or surpass the first film? Ehhhhh…not
really.
Taron Egerton returns as chav-turned-superspy Eggsy, who
surprisingly enough has turned his fling with a Swedish princess at the end of
the last film into a fully-flung relationship, complete with awkward dinners with
royal in-laws. Unfortunately, work gets in the way as drug queen Poppy, played
by Julianne Moore, leader of the Golden Circle organization, (who speaks every line like a really patronizing soccer mom) decides to destroy
the Kingsman organization by means of missile barrage. Other than one or two
brief scenes, this seems almost like an afterthought, and despite this massive
attack the characters take things rather leisurely.
This all leads them to joining up with their American counterparts,
the Statesmen, who swap British gentlemanliness for obsession with whisky. Lots
and lots of whisky. Channing Tatum stars as one of the lead agents of the
booze-swilling cowboy spies, though it’s more of a glorified cameo than
anything. Halle Berry has a bigger role, though in honestly, it feels slightly
tacked on.
And that leads me to my main complaint, which is that it’s
not really as exciting as the first, which mixed the action, intrigue, and
development well, and kept things going at a good pace. This one isn’t
massively longer than the first, but it feels that way, and there’s points were
I just wanted them to get on with it—like a scene set in Glastonbury, which let’s
just say involves a rather convoluted way to plant a tracking device. I was
just thinking they should’ve just placed it in a drink or something, but it
leads into more of Eggy’s bungling of his romantic life. I get that they’re
trying to expand the characters more, but it just slows things down and makes
it feel meandering.
As such, when Poppy makes her televised evil speech, it’s
like she’s trying to remind the audience that she’s still in there. And that’s when
things do get better, as Eggsy and Q-like Merlin recover their old friend and
mentor Harry—I’d normally not mention a spoiler like that, but the trailers
already did, so meh. Twists, turns, and ludicrous action follow as they all
team up to foil supervillainry, and in the process, make sure to wave Apple
products at the camera at every opportunity. I will say that I was amused by
the portrayal of the US President in reaction to the evil plan—let’s just say
they take the stereotype of the asshole Republican, and crank it up, to the
point where he’s a more entertaining bad guy than the actual one.
Another plus is the inexplicable presence of Elton John in
an extended celebrity cameo, and while it’s silly, it’s also oh so awesome. You’ll
see what I mean.
The climax is nice and kinetic, but not really on par with
the storming of Sam Jackson’s base from the first. Still, it’s serviceable in
it’s own right—which about sums up the film. It’s decent, just not on par on
the first. I’d recommend it for a viewing, but it probably won’t be that great
for repeated ones as the first one is.
Some minor spoilers--there's a few lapses of logic that did distract me, even for a film like this. There's a cyborg bad guy who shrugs off electrocution presumably because of his implants...when shouldn't that just make it worse? Likewise, Poppy's scheme relies on her apparently having total control of all drug manufacture...even over every random local pot grower, apparently. It's no less ridiculous than the plot from the first film, but that one had more justification, even in the context of an over the top spy caper like this one.
There's also pretty much no consequence from the global devastation in the first film...but in this case, as Eggsy put it--this ain't that kind of movie, bruv.
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