Editor’s Notes: Kingsman: The Golden Circle is out in theatrical release September 22nd.
Two confessions I want to make right up front about Kingsman: The Golden Circle. First, much as I always intend to walk into every screening with an open mind, hoping for the best, the very model of film critic purity, I was actually worried. Why, I wondered, do we need a Kingsman sequel? Apart from its status as a comic book property – and per Hollywood rule, all comic book properties must be stretched, however thin, into a franchise – it’s not as though 2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service offered enough creative energy to burn into additional installments. And since the general rule with sequels is to up the ante, one could only imagine the kind of sordid extremes the already-transgressive franchise would seek out in another go-round. My second confession is that I was only half right: this film is, indeed, unnecessary, though not necessarily for reasons I feared: it’s a retread that dials up the volume but dials down its signature elements.
Sure, there’s a preponderance of excess from top to bottom, but that’s more a function of style than content.
Sure, there’s a preponderance of excess from top to bottom, but that’s more a function of style than content. Director Matthew Vaughn, ever the kitchen sink filmmaker, doubles down on warp-speed, hyper-edited action sequences, often paired with an anachronistic pop song. Cute as ever. And speaking of cute, the Kingsman action feels less like comic book and more like cartoon – it’s always zany but never resonant or engaging. As ever, Vaughn’s action sensibilities work splendidly in close-up, his free-flowing camera allowing for angle-upon-angle of complex movement. But pull the camera back and it’s all incomprehensible CG-laden speed punctuated with hyper slo-mo, like a less self-important Zack Snyder.
That kind of empty showiness is a common theme in Vaughn’s films, with a lot of the extra space filled in with transgressive gags like cursing children, splattering bodies, and squirmy sexual suggestion. The original film was certainly true to that form, but The Golden Circle is less comfortable in its own skin. While it certainly can’t be considered a mild-mannered departure from the norm – any film with a set piece centered on third-basing a drug-addled concertgoer as part of a recon mission is at least slightly dirty-minded – but the film’s moral compass feels out of balance. There’s a certain chastity in both its plotting and character details, as though the filmmakers are pulling punches while still feigning naughtiness. It’s cute that young hero Eggsy (Taron Egerton) is now in a serious relationship with the Swedish princess he rescued in the first film, and it works for the characters even while it also feels like a stray bone the filmmakers are throwing at those who chafed at the squirmy closing joke in the previous movie. It’s a huge get to cast Julianne Moore as the film’s sunny, pun-loving drug czar villain – and even better that we also get an extended cameo from Elton John as her celebrity hostage. But her diabolical plot – threatening the world’s drug-indulging population with total extinction – sets up a diametric the film can’t pull off. The screenplay strains to delineate between drug addicts and casual potheads while also foisting an oddball “this is your brain on drugs” lesson that doesn’t jibe with the overall tone. Such toothlessness results in an even more uncomfortable sit than if the filmmakers committed to one side of the spectrum or the other.
It’s a huge get to cast Julianne Moore as the film’s sunny, pun-loving drug czar villain – and even better that we also get an extended cameo from Elton John as her celebrity hostage.
It should’ve been a surprise that Colin Firth returns, but since the trailers freely gave it away, I can mention that he’s largely wasted both in the first half, when he’s relegated to an amnesia subplot, and in the last half, when he’s made to run helplessly from rabid robot dogs. The Kingsmen team up with American counterparts this time around, introducing new characters played by Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry, and Channing Tatum and then stranding them to do nothing, since the film is already bloated enough on its own. Surely their introduction hints at a third Kingsman installment – which will still certainly remain wholly unnecessary, but hopefully more precisely calibrated with its usual verve.
The Kingsmen team up with American counterparts this time around, introducing new characters played by Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry, and Channing Tatum and then stranding them to do nothing, since the film is already bloated enough on its own. Surely their introduction hints at a third Kingsman installment – which will still certainly remain wholly unnecessary, but hopefully more precisely calibrated with its usual verve.
