After the success of the last film, it only makes sense to make a sequel. After it has the replacement Guy Ritchie directing (Matthew Vaughn) and expanding the premise, it should be perfect right? Well...
The Story - 6.5/10
To be fair on this film, the story was never going to be the biggest focus. Basically the main premise is a drug dealer named Poppy has poisoned her supply and it's making people more sick than they normally would taking drugs. She ends up destroying the Kingsmen and the survivors have to look to their American counterparts, the Statesmen. It sounds simple enough but that doesn't excuse this film for being boring. This film is around 2 hours but I felt like I went to a marathon of bad Ridley Scott films. The scenes that involved exposition in the first film worked because they were short and to the point. These ones are drawn out, not very useful and they weren't even that funny. In between the action, there are these exposition and pointless character building scenes. We don't need these characters to be expanded because they are fine the way they are. But the one thing I will give this movie credit for, is that there is technically a surprise villain at the end of the film. I'm pretty sure it's meant to be a commentary on Trump but this movie would be banned if it was.
The Characters - 6.5/10
Taron Edgerton returns as Eggsy. He was the focal point of the first film and the lens through how we experienced the world of the Kingsmen. Now he's a more likeable and fun character since he has the charm from before, but now he can do flips, kicks and espionage. He is easily the best character of this ensemble.
Colin Firth comes back as agent Gallahad. Now his return initially is really stupid. He was shot in the head in the last film and when he was shown to be alive, this confused and annoyed many people. The way he gets revived is equally stupid and I should be annoyed about it, but I'm not. So now I don't know what to do. However he still has his charm and eloquence but less of the kickassery.
As for the Statesmen, the only thing that can be said is three quarters of them are as dull as an old Bowie knife. The only remotely interesting one is Pedro Pascal (or Oberyn Martell from Game of Thrones). He is the most involved of the Statesmen and has the best fight scenes of all of them. He also has a particular character arc that (despite coming out of left field) makes sense.
Julianne Moore plays the main villain, Poppy. She is a drug cartel leader and poisons her supply which affects millions of people. She essentially surrounds herself in 1950's nostalgia and does disgusting things to her goons. Unlike Samuel L Jackson in the first film, she isn't given enough time to really seem that threatening or funny. As I said before, the film does a clever thing by having her not the main problem in the climax. She might be the one who caused all of these problems but she is in a position to fix it all and is prevented in doing so by the surprise villain. This flips our expectations on their heads and you have to appreciate that.
The Action - 7.5/10
As with most sequels, what they do is take what worked in the first and crank it up to 11. The only thing is they took the cool shaky camera shorts and dropped it into every single action scene. The best way I can describe the problem that I have is this. The first film used this sparingly and its like having a chocolate bar. You eat it and you enjoy it, it tastes nice but you need to get some nutrients into you before having another one. This film's use of the shaky camera is like getting one of those bags filled with hundreds of chocolate bars. Now you don't know what to do and the thought of eating them all makes you sick. But that doesn't mean the action scenes are bad, not at all. The best one by far is at the end, when a certain captured musician who made a song that is perfect for a wild Saturday night plays over everything. The characters are kicking, jumping and shooting and in sync with the music, it does get your blood pumping.
Conclusion
All in all, Kingsman the Golden Circle is not as good as the first one, but it's still pretty damn good. The story isn't as fun or interesting as it could be, the characters aren't given any opportunity to show off their full potential but the action is still heart pumping. If you want a good time, go and watch it.
I am giving it a 7/10
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