What happens when you mix British wit, Southern charm and a whole lot of thrilling action? A ‘fun-tastic’ visual adventure befitting of Matthew Vaughn’s talent as a director.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is the sequel to the 2014 hit spy, action film, Kingsman: The Secret Service and is based on the popular comic book series of the same name by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar.
Much like the first film, and almost every other spy-action film, the plot of the film is fairly predictable, with an evil organisation holding the world hostage, which leads the Kingsman to join forces with their American counterparts to put an end to the worldwide threat. Sound familiar?
The novelty of the film is most definitely not in its plot, with very little surprises story-wise, especially the return of Gallahad (Colin Firth), who should have been left as a shocking surprise for fans of the series. Instead his return was teased in earlier promotional stunts and activities, including several appearances in the film’s trailers, leaving little to the imagination and barely any mystery.
However, despite the lack of surprise in Gallahad’s miraculous survival, other surprises, plot twists and humourous moments and, of course more Eggsy goodness, in the film make up for this, in a way which almost makes the reveal of Gallahad’s return tolerable. The only disappointment was the misleading amount of screen time given to Channing Tatum’s Agent Tequila. Tequila was given nowhere near as much screen time as the various trailers and promotional spots led us to believe.
As per the first film, incredible action sequences and stunts were aplenty. Audiences were certainly treated to a visual spectacle, especially with epic brawls taking place in various exotic locations, including the Cambodian jungle, snow-capped mountain tops akin to a James Bond film and even the old southern backyard in Kentucky, USA.
The fight scenes were award worthy, with fantastic choreography that showcased not only the flexibility of the human body but also the finesse that comes with being an expert Statesman. If you are a fan of jaw-droppingly awesome gun and rope play (and no, I don’t mean in the NSFW sense), you’re going to want to keep your eyes peeled when watching this film.
Unlike the first film however, and much like Agent Tequila’s lack of appearance throughout the crux of the film, there was a slight lack of ‘cool’ gadgetry in the film. Yes, robotic technology were featured and we got to see a suitcase gun in action, but it just didn’t have the same pizzaz as the first film. That charm, which featured heavily in the first Kingsman film was lost in the sequel. Perhaps this is because the original film was based more on training and teaching Eggsy the various tech and gadgetry involved, whereas in this film, Eggsy is already well-versed in the art of ‘spy-ing’ that he no longer requires a demo.
In many ways, Kingsman: The Golden Circle lived up to the hype and was a fun action flick to sit back, relax and enjoy. However, with such a daring, powerful predecessor, it’s not surprising that the sequel falls just a tad short of being equally as amazing. Having been somewhat mislead by the trailers and spoilt didn’t help and much of the first film’s charm was sorely missed. A large portion of what made this sequel worth watching is heavily based on its visual spectacle and character charm. Nevertheless, this sequel is still an enjoyable and exciting film to watch, especially if you fancy yourself a Taron Eggerton and/or Colin Firth fan.