Matthew Vaughn is a love or hate director. You’ll either love his style of black comedy, mixed with over the top, cartoon-y levels of violence like in “Kick-Ass” and the first “Kingsman,” or you’ll hate him for it. Now, can “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” recapture the manic, silly, satirical nature of the first film? Or is this film just a tall glass of nothing?
“The Golden Circle” begins with a bang, or more appropriately, an action sequence set to rocking music. It’s an immediate sign to the audience that this is the Kingsman they love. The over-the-top violence is here, as is the witty dialogue and fun spirit. However, the film gets bogged down quite a bit the longer it goes on, and it starts to feel like exactly what the first film parodied.
While not as overstuffed as Hollywood action films tend to be, “The Golden Circle” does have quite a few different threads going at once that all try to vie for the B plot status. Very few of them manage to tie into the actual B plot, and this makes keeping track of all of them difficult. Some don’t even manifest themselves in meaningful ways, and by the end, you may realize that most of the plot that was building underneath the main line doesn’t even matter.
Luckily, the agents are back in full force. Taron Egerton returns as Eggsy, but the real stars of the show are the Statesman, the American Kingsman equivalent. They have their alcohol distillery to the Kingsman’s tailor shops, and the characters, named after drinks like Champagne and Ginger Ale, all feel right at home in the Kingsman world.
So does the villain. Gone is Samuel L. Jackson’s insane tech-wiz, and in comes Julianne Moore’s even more insane Poppy. She puts a smile on the face of drug addicts everywhere, and her banter and evil lair make for some of the best parts of the film. This is also where she keeps her celebrity captive, and where that captive becomes the best thing in the entire film.
The action is top notch and just as freewheeling as the first film, however that leads to a huge problem. While "Kingsman: The Secret Service" managed to balance its bloodshed with smaller, more story-driven moments outside of the carnage, "The Golden Circle" instead takes those moments and dumps blood on top of them.
It muddles the messages and the impact of these emotional moments. Not only that but there are times where The Golden Circle tows the line of crudeness just a bit too much. Even compared to the first film, which featured a bloody battle inside the Westboro-esque Church.
Callbacks are abundant as well, and while they often help show how the series has matured in this new installment, they mostly serve as a reminder of how much better the first film was to this one. This and a subplot with an amnesiac actually reminds one of “Men In Black 2,” and not in a good way.
“Kingsman: The Golden Circle” is fine viewing for fans of the first film and fans of Vaughn’s directing. However, it’s muddled plots, constant callbacks and almost too over the top nature prevent the film from being as memorable or as creative as the first. It’s a fine film-going experience, but it’s like a good, cold beer to the first film’s finely aged whisky. 3.5/5
