Kingsman: The Golden Circle - Movie Review
It's the classy before the insanity with the sequel to Matthew Vaughn's The Secret Service of 2015. But does The Golden Circle suffer from sequel-itis? Let's break it down.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is directed by Matthew Vaughn and is the sequel to the surprisingly successful Kingsman: The Secret Service film that also was directed by Vaughn back in 2015.
When the Kingsman headquarters is suddenly blown up on the spot, the remaining Kingsman must team up with their American counterparts in the Statesman to save the world from a new, psychotic enemy in Julianne Moore.
Personally, I've been looking forward to this sequel for a long while now. I very much enjoyed The Secret Service and it was one of my favorites of that year. The first addition is a great homage to old school spy thrillers in the same vein as James Bond while also being able to put fun, creative spins on the typical tropes we come to expect in spy films.
Naturally, one would expect the next chapter of a franchise to amp everything up from a five to a ten. Does The Golden Circle live up to that standard? Yes, and unfortunately no in this critic's eyes.
The returning cast members all do a great job in their respective roles. Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, and Colin Firth once again have great chemistry with one another. It's the new additions to the cast that somewhat hinder the film.
The Statesman consists of top-notch talent in Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, and Jeff Bridges. The problem with them is that they all feel very underdeveloped and overall underutilized. Their respective performances are not bad by any means, however it does feel like they were just in the film for a quick paycheck.
Julianne Moore is having a blast with this villainous role, it's clear she's relishing every second of screen time. However, Moore's character is virtually confided to her hideout and simply ordering people to do her dirty work; thus giving her character no real threat or menace to the protagonists.
What The Golden Circle comes down to is a standard case of "sequel-itis". The film does everything it can to go bigger and better than its predecessor, doubling down on action and plot. The issue is that The Golden Circle is plagued with too many unnecessary subplots that really don't amount to anything of note, except stretch out the run time.
While The Golden Circle is perfectly entertaining because of its main leads and the outrageous predicaments they find themselves in, it's the action of those predicaments that don't leave quite the punch as the first film did. Naturally, it's well choreographed and shot because of director Vaughn's style, but it just feel as memorable as the first installment.
Final Take
I don't mean to compare The Golden Circle so harshly to its predecessor, but when the franchise was riding a huge wave of momentum going into this second addition, it does come up short in big time fashion. That being said, this is still a solid, entertaining spy thriller despite its needless subplots.
I'm going to give Kingsman: The Golden Circle a "B-" on the movie grading scale. I'm still interested in a potential third film if the Kingsman can learn from their missteps and regroup for a trilogy.
As always, thanks so much for reading and make sure to stay posted to Frank’s Takes for more reviews. Until next time, keep it 100.
