Kingsman: The Golden Circle, co-writer-director Matthew Vaughn’s follow-up to his 2015 spy satire, Kingsman: The Secret Service, has a different, more Americana-infused flavor than that franchise starter. It’s heartening to see Vaughn and co-writer Jane Goldman branch out to avoid the staleness than often creeps into sequels, but it nevertheless fails to replicate the “breath of fresh air” quality that accompanied the Looney Tunes-inspired zaniness of their first crack at the adventures of Taron Egerton’s silly-named (but exquisitely dressed and extremely lethal) protagonist, Eggsy.
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| Photo credit: Kingsman: The Golden Circle/IMDb |
Vaughn and Goldman had the right instinct to switch things up a lot from the first film’s villain, who had been played by Samuel L. Jackson. But their execution of this instinct is a symptom of the new movie’s overall problem of being not quite ripe, which is made odder because of the film’s 141-minute runtime. You’d think they would be able to negotiate new characters and themes thoroughly in that time, but you’d be wrong.
A Drug War With a Happy Face
Deep in an unnamed jungle sits a wonderland of 1950s nostalgia. This theme park is an ode to the diners, the soda fountains, the pastel politeness projected by an era that desperately wanted to gloss over the seediness lying right beneath the surface of America at the time (and at all times). Every establishment in this piece of real estate shares an owner, one Ms. Poppy, a cheery woman with red hair and a carefully manicured image, all cordial smiles and soft vocal tones, like a kindly teacher from an episode of Leave It To Beaver.
But because she’s played by one of modern Hollywood’s acting powerhouses, Julianne Moore, Poppy is a little bit more than the sweet visage she wants new acquaintances to see. She is the mastermind of the world’s largest drug cartel, and she has a plan to end the war her home country, the United States, has waged on drugs for most of her life. She has laced all of her products, including cannabis, heroin, and others, all of which seem, strangely, to be the only drugs in the market across the world, with a poison that causes paralysis and death within a few short days—unless, of course, the “Free World” ends its prohibition on her business, in which case she will distribute the antidote that will save millions of lives.
It’s a good start, but there’s something missing from Poppy. Her character is intended as a satirical tool to get the audience to examine the pain caused by the war on drugs—the lack of treatment for addiction, the skyrocketing rates of imprisonment for nonviolent offenders, the economic apocalypse that has fallen on communities of color, and more—but it never quite coheres despite Moore having a wonderful time in the role. The ‘50s nostalgia she wraps herself in never fully makes sense from a character or plot perspective. Vaughn and Goldman don’t give a compelling reason for why Poppy is so in love with the era besides a couple lines about how she loved Happy Days as a kid. While “just because” could be a good enough reason to use this kind of characterization in some circumstances, Vaughn and Goldman clearly desire to make a grand, satirical statement about America’s and the West’s relationship to drugs.
So “just because” simply doesn’t cut it here.
Backdoor Pilot Season
That “not all the way there” feeling reaches into the other elements new to the franchise with this installment. After Poppy’s forces wipe out all of Eggsy’s and Merlin’s (Mark Strong) associates at the Kingsman tailor shop/spy agency based in London, they head to Kentucky to meet up with their “cousins” in international spycraft, Statesman.
Much like Poppy’s ‘50s theme park, Statesman is about 75 percent of the way toward feeling complete as a cinematic concept. Its cosmetic features—Statesman’s front is a whiskey distillery and their Southern-accented and cowboy hat–wearing agents are all named after kinds of liquor in the way that Kingsman are named after Knights of the Round Table—give a taste of something that could be a total blast, but the movie quickly sidelines Tequila (series newcomer Channing Tatum) and Champagne (shortened to “Champ” and played by a mustachioed Jeff Bridges) after first making it appear like they would be huge parts of the narrative. It begins to feel much like a backdoor pilot, that old gimmick of a popular TV show being used as a launching pad for another upcoming series set within the same universe with a special episode introducing all the new characters in clumsy ways.
Luckily, Whiskey (Pedro Pascal), a gruff and mysterious Statesman agent partners with Eggsy—based on his role here, if Pascal doesn’t soon headline his own action film, hopefully as a brash fighter pilot (you’ll see why), Hollywood deserves to fail—to infiltrate Poppy’s lab to obtain the world-saving antidote. Whiskey’s electrified whip and impossibly fast gunslinging give The Golden Circle many of its finest action beats, so the Statesman inclusion does not go to waste fully.
Strange Relationship With Death
Some pivotal characters from the first film do go to waste, however, including some of the most important Kingsman agents, who are killed off in rather unceremonious fashion early in the sequel. This is played briefly for pathos, but it’s also treated like a gag, as Merlin brusquely instructs Eggsy that there are no emotions allowed in the heat of a spy’s mission. The importance of these characters’ demise may have meant more emotionally if it weren’t for the fact that their deaths come at the hands of one character who was resurrected after seemingly being killed onscreen during the climax of the first movie. Later, another major player’s death occurs while a different resurrected character stands mere feet away with a pained expression on his face.
On one hand, the film’s explanations for how it can bring back characters from the grave fits within the comic book tradition from which Kingsman sprung. (It’s based on a comic series by writer Mark Millar and artist Dave Gibbons) It’s a gleeful embrace of the kookiness that accompanies the tropes of that kind of storytelling, winking at the audience as if to say, “Yeah, this is silly, but isn’t it so much fun, especially when we can find a way to put an eyepatch on a major character?” But on the other hand, it ruins any chance of building an emotional response for when other characters die, removing the permanence that would otherwise accompany death. It leaves one with a strange, stunted reaction, closer to a shrug than a heartstrings tug.
But Damn, If It Ain't Still a Great Time
For all the half-starts and dropped balls in the conceptualization and execution of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, it maintains the breezy and cartoonish fun that was so infectious the first time around. Taron Egerton remains the wittiest and charismatic (white) leading man of his age group—with only John Boyega and Michael B. Jordan being more fun overall—and he gives Eggsy a real dilemma: How do you balance duty with the personal relationships you know can and will compromise your missions (and innocent lives) at some point down the line?
The action set pieces, while perhaps not as memorable as Colin Firth’s Galahad mowing down of a bunch of addled racists in a church or heads exploding into fireworks in the first film, often stick two middle fingers up to the laws of physics. A deliriously entertaining opening scene set to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” while Eggsy fights a man with a robot arm in, on top of, and around a speeding car, all while being shot at by the drivers of pursuing cars is one of the most grin-inducing moments in any 2017 release.
While The Golden Circle is nowhere near the level of its predecessor, its flaws are so often papered over with appealing performances and cartoon-esque stunts that might be laughed out of the Fast and Furious series production offices. It’s hard to dislike something with those things going for it.
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Writers: Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Julianne Moore, Pedro Pascal, Edward Holcroft, Hanna Alström, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, Jeff Bridges, Elton John
Rating: 3/5 stars
Available in theaters now
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