Kingsman: The Golden Circle is an overlong and poorly written sequel

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Starring: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Julianne Moore, Channing Tatum, Pedro Pascal, Halle Berry, Jeff Bridges, Edward Holcroft, Elthon John

Genre: Action, Comedy

Year: 2017

First Kingsman, directed by talented Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, Layer Cake, Stardust) and based on a comic book by Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Wanted) was a breath of fresh air and one of the better action movies in the last couple of years. A sequel to this 2014 surprise hit, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, wants to be crazier, bigger and funnier than the original but unfortunately fails on all levels.

After their headquarters are blown up and most of the agents killed by a criminal organization called ‘Golden Circle’ and led by Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore), the rest of the Kingsman agents must find out who’s responsible and of course save the world. They find new allies in a secret organization called Statesman who are based in USA (Kentucky to be more precise) and led by Champ (Jeff Bridges).

When a sequel to the original Kingsman was announced it actually sounded like a good idea. The same team behind the first one, including director, writers, and actors (who survived at the end of the original), signed up for a sequel. After that, they announced new cast members which included names like Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Channing Tatum and Halle Berry. Oh, and they decided to return everyone’s favorite character from the original, Harry (played by Colin Firth). So to me, it seemed like this sequel will be a worthy successor. Well, I was wrong – simply put, Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a bad movie.

There are so many things wrong with this movie that I don’t know where to start. Adding to the frustration, it’s not that the whole movie is bad – there is also some good stuff here and some really well-made scenes that is too bad that whole, or at least bigger part of the movie, is not on the same level. When it’s good, it is an ok and fun action movie. I still liked some characters and actors, old ones (Eggsy, Harry, Merlin) and new ones (Tequilla), and there are some excellent and creative action scenes with unusual camera work that bursts with energy (although even them are little ruined with too much CGI). Unfortunately, when this movie is bad it is truly awful.  

There are so many scenes that border with a parody like you’re watching Austin Powers movies. Yes, even the first one parodied James Bond movies but with a taste – here they just went too far. So, you can’t take these scenes seriously and at the same time, they are not funny or amusing. 

Also, it doesn’t help that Julianne Moore’s character Poppy Adams is one of the worst villains in recent history. She also resembles some Austin Powers characters and I actually don’t know what they were thinking – she’s not convincing or dangerous, she doesn’t leave an impression of a super-intelligent opponent, nor she’s funny. Even worse, most of the new characters and actors are not much better – Jeff Bridges and Halle Berry are here just to collect their paychecks and Elton John, regardless if we’re talking about his character, his acting or jokes, is just terrible. And don’t get me started on those robot dogs or “shocking” scenes were Julianne Moore turned one of her’s men into ground meat and served him as a hamburger.

As I said, they just went too far. They wanted for this sequel to be bigger and crazier than the original and they blew it. Kingsman: The Golden Circle is an overlong and poorly written sequel with bad and forced jokes, some awful characters and performances and although there are some good things here I can’t recommend you to watch this movie. Skip it.