"Kingsman: The Golden Circle" has just premiered all over the world as a sequel to a successfully known film “Kingsman: The Secret Service” released back in 2014. Both of the films were produced and written by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman. Originally the series are based on the comic books of Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar that some of you may have read or heard of before. Personally I didn’t read those, so I don’t have anything to compare the films with.
The cast of “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” has some of the names met in the first film, Colin Firth, Taron Egerton and Mark Strong for example. At the same time there was an essential addition to that team that included Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges, Pedro Pascal, Channing Tatum and Halle Berry.
Oh, wait! I almost forgot about Elton John!
Yeah, that’s right, he’s a lot in this movie and he shines like a sun there!))))
And you know, I think that may be one of only two things I liked about the film.
You may remember that in “Kingsman: The Secret Service” we’ve been introduced to a troubled youngster Eggsy and his rocky path to becoming an irreplaceable member of the Kingsman Secret Service. At the end he’d become a matured young man with exceptional fighting skills and special knowledge.
“Kingsman: The Golden Circle” starts just right at this point and takes us into the Secret Service affairs once again. Although this time there’s even a bigger threat in the face of the mad woman/ ultimate drug-dealer who invented a special substance that may kill half of the world’s population unless she’s stopped and antidote is timely delivered to those infected. As if it wasn’t enough to make the day go entirely wrong, the whole department of Kingsman is being hunted down. So as to seek help and technical resources Eggsy and Merlin follow the clue that leads them to a similar department in US that’s called Statesman.
That’s pretty much all I can tell you about the plot without spoilers. All of it is in the trailers.
Right at the beginning we’re pushed into the pool of action. I really liked the first action scene in London streets. It was quite dynamic and at the same time we’ve seen all the details that technically aren’t that easy to show to the audience, especially if the fight is going in the narrow and tight space. I admit that they set the bar very high right from the start and somehow they had to keep it or go even higher.
Unfortunately my expectations weren’t met and everything plot- and action-related afterwards just had me disappointed. I’ll explain why.
Since all of the action scenes required visual effects, they seemed like an animated movie. And when you watch the animated movie, that feeling of danger somehow disappears. You stop worrying about the character’s well-being, whether he/she dies or stays alive. Fights start looking more like dancing and choreography. Of course they were staged nicely but it felt like they’re at the party and just having a lot of fun. But is that how it’s supposed to feel in an action spy movie? I’m no so sure.
Another thing that I didn’t get is a difference between regular big screen (2D) and IMAX 3D. I watched the film in IMAX 3D and it didn’t give me more advantage in the picture’s volume. Maybe the sound is better but the picture itself is not that fuller and rounder as it had to be. Seriously, just save some money and go to see it on 2D screens. Impressions of the movie will remain the same.
Another thing I want to mention is the role of Channing Tatum’s character called Tequila. I didn’t get the purpose of this character’s existence. Most possibly the creators have something going for Tequila in the future installments but as far as the current one goes this character is useless and unnecessary here.
You know by the end of the film I was so overwhelmed by all the “animated” action scenes. I couldn’t have imagined myself being lulled to sleep by such a dynamic film. But to be honest it did become boring towards the end.
Now let’s move to some few positive things I have to say about the project. First being Julianne Moore’s portraying of the villain. She’s fantastic! Impeccable! I was really scared of her! She’s got no boundaries in her activities. And if there’s something in the film worth seeing - that would be her! One minute she acts as a normal housewife that you wouldn’t suspect of any malice and then another minute she’s a total evil risen from Hell.
And the last positive point is Elton John whom I already mentioned above. He’s so good and charming here! It’s like in all of this madness there’s at least Elton John that can sing to us about “Saturday”. He didn’t even have to act. Well, he didn’t actually, he was just being him.
As per the good things I can’t remember anything else.
So let’s cap it all and summarize.
Did “Kingsman: The Secret Service” require a sequel? I say, it did. But was the sequel produced thoroughly? I say, no.
It’s ok to watch once but you wouldn’t want to watch it again any time soon.
Thank you for reading my review and I wish you more good movies!
