Filmology Rating: 2.25 out of 4

Early in 2015 Matthew Vaughn surprised the world with Kingsman: The Secret Service which went on to gross $414.3 million worldwide.  Vaughn brought Taron Egerton into the film world and helped make him one of the industries most charming up and coming actors,  while also assuring Colin Firth would be an action star who everyone would want to watch for years to come.  Basically Vaughn had a hit on his hand and a sequel was inevitable but the question that everyone should be asking now is can Vaughn capture that lightning in a bottle again?   

One year after Eggsy, played by Taron Egerton, and the rest of the Kingsman stopped Valentine from conquering the world, everything seems to be normal again.  Then one day the rejected Kingsman candidate Charlie Hesketh, played by Edward Holcroft, shows up to try and kill Eggsy.  While the battle isn’t easy,  Eggsy defeats Charlie but not before Charlie hacks the Kingsman database collecting all the information of the agency.  Shortly all of the Kingsman agents besides Eggsy and Merlin, played by Mark Strong, are killed off leaving the legacy of the Kingman shattered and leaving the two agents without a home or a team.        

I left this film with the same thoughts I had with an earlier movie that Matthew Vaughn produced, Kick-Ass 2. Those feelings were that this movie has all of the things that the first one had,  but I’m not liking them in this movie.  Kingsman: The Secret Service felt like a fresh movie, it was bringing something new to the world of entertainment but a sequel, by its nature, usually offers more of the same.  While the situations slightly change, the outcome is still the same.  You still have the same stylized action, the over the top violence, the charm from the film’s lead, but the magic is clearly gone.

One of the most surprising moments of the first film was the death of Harry Hart, played by Colin Firth.  The death actually had an impact on the characters of the Kingsman world and the audience watching the film grew to care for this mentor.  Yet since Kingsman: The Golden Circle has almost no new ideas to bring to the table Vaughn and co-writer Jane Goldman decide to retcon the death of Harry and bring him back for basically no  reason.  Colin Firth was easily one of the best aspects of the first film and it’s not that he is giving a bad performance in this film, it’s that he is giving a different more bland performance in this film.  The entire plot of this film would still easily still happen without Harry, and since the film cannot justify bringing the character back,  I wish they would have left him in the ground. Instead all The Golden Circle does is remind me of a better film in which every character served a purpose.     

I do appreciate that this film makes the world bigger by introducing the Statesman, the American secret spy agency.  On paper this sounds fantastic bringing in the American intelligence agency, making the world bigger, and the more cynical part of me thinks this will also bring more Americans into theatres to see the film; but it all falls flat.  The introduction to the Statesman is perfect and having the headquarters double as a whiskey distillery in Kentucky seems like the perfect place for these cowboys to hangout, but after that they feel useless.  Channing Tatum and Jeff Bridges are basically extended cameos that you wish were fleshed out characters with motivations that you could understand.  While the Kingsman use briefcases and umbrellas as weapons, the Statesman use whips and lassos and visually you can only do that so many times before it becomes tedious.  The Statesman just feel bland, they don’t actually do anything for the plot other than set up future spin-off films.  Perhaps those films could be interesting, but what was delivered in The Golden Circle is simply not.      

I do need to address one issue that bothers me and that is basically how The Secret Service takes place in our actual world. The film had Obama as the President of the United States in the film and then the film decides to blow his head up in a colorful firework.  Since Obama isn’t the only leader who has this happen I took it as a satire about how corrupt the leaders of the world are. But now I’m starting to question the intention of having a person who was president at the time in the film.  The biggest reason that I question this is because we have Trump as our president now and The Golden Circle has a fictional president played by Bruce Greenwood.  I would have accepted if Greenwood had Trump mannerisms or attitude but he really doesn’t.  This aspect to some might be small but for me it just left a bad taste in my mouth which will now forever color the previous film with some bad light.

I went into Kingsman: The Golden Circle expecting to love it, I thought the film would certainly be one of my favorite films of the year.  Instead, however, the film is on the lower part of my list for films of the year.  I expected a unique fun adventure from Vaughn but I ended up getting a bloated overlong spy adventure.

Rating: Rent It

-Jonny G

After an unknown threat strikes a devastating blow to the Kingsman and threatens the world, it’s up to them to pull it together and save the world once again!

I absolutely loved the first Kingsman! I thought it was incredibly unique with its approach, style, and action sequences. I have been anxiously awaiting its sequel and I have to admit…. It was a little disappointing. While I wouldn’t say Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a bad movie, it just didn’t quite meet the level of ...the first.

To get it out of the way, this films biggest flaw is its laughable villain. While Julianne Moore is a very talented actress…. she just wasn’t in this one and I blame the writing. She is just straight up goofy and NOT in a good way. I really don't know what they were trying to achieve with her character because she didn’t really offer much other than having money to back her up and the drug market. Because of this, the movie was already off to a rough start. Samuel Jackson had personality, background, and was likeable; Julianne Moores character was none of that.

Onward to the good! The action is very similar to that of the first so if you liked the style of the first, you will have a lot of fun with this film as well!

If you have seen the trailers, you know that Harry is back/didn’t really die in the first film. The way they bring him back makes sense in a Kingsman kind of way (you'll know what I mean). What I liked most was how Eggsy was now the one helping him to find his way. It was a nice twist that complimented the first very much.

Once again, the movie is not bad, it just isnt what it could have been.

Rating: See It

-Nick