You know when a movie has a really cool part that blows your mind and then you know the sequel will try to recreate that part a hundred times over? Then, when you see the sequel do exactly that, it’s still pretty good even if it’s not quite as good as the first time? Remember when I said almost exactly the same thing about the latest addition to the Fast and the Furious franchise, earlier this year? Well, call this the sequel to that review. For a moment I thought about reusing that same review but I didn’t, because clearly I have more respect for my audience than do those Hollywood big shots who keep green-lighting all these sequels.
Getting back to the subject that I’m supposed to be writing something original about, it is somewhat alarming that the level of ridiculousness that took the Furious series eight movies to reach only took the Kingsman franchise two films to equal. Kingsman gained so much ground so quickly because it is over the top every chance it gets, right from the start, with one slow motion action sequence after another, all set to some purposely eclectic song choice.
But in all its efforts the Kingsman sequel never comes close to the fever dream that was the church sequence in Kingsman the first, which was the part that totally blew my mind. I realize it would have been cleverer if I had found a way to tie the head explosions at the end to the mind blowing language, but honestly nothing beats the church scene for me.
Even though it doesn’t achieve the same peak level as the first film, Kingsman: The Golden Circle is an enjoyable movie that comes out a little ahead of Furious 8 in the stupid yet enjoyable unnecessary sequel category (which I am quite sure will be an Oscar category starting this February). Kingsman gains the edge over Furious in this important head-to-head showdown by being consistently funny between action scenes, a result of both its gleeful over-the-topness and the wacky tone it carries over from its predecessor.
Be warned that the film occasionally veers into sheer creepiness (um, a mucus membrane tracking device???). Also, be warned that you will be creeped out much more often than once if you are in any way adverse to people being ground into hamburger (literally) or chopped in half by electric lassos (which is also a thing that actually happens in this film for what I am guessing is the first time ever).
The occasional incident(s) of creepiness are easily forgiven, by me at least, because Kingsman: The Golden Circle is frenetic, confident, and surprisingly touching at times. The highlights for me were Mark Strong covering John Denver and Elton John finally letting loose on stage after years of self-inflicted repression. Those scenes were more than well worth the price of admission by themselves.
I give Kingsman: The Golden Circle seven country roads (taking you home) out of ten.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
A good answer to copy-pasted sequels, Sean! I guess the film will still receive a lot of attention exactly due to its attempt to look eclectic. Whether it’s a sincere attempt or not is a different matter…
As for myself, I quite enjoyed the first part although wasn’t such a huge fan of it, but I’m still happy someone tries to do creepy/weird stuff in a blockbuster!
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This one maintains the vibe of the first quite well. It’s just not the same pleasant surprise, but of course that’s how sequels are.
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We’ll be seeing this one this weekend!
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I rather loved The Golden Circle. It’s not high Art, but it’s determinedly entertaining and funny, and surprisingly emotional once or twice too.
That said, I agree that it’s the kind of sequel that’s derivative of its own predecessor, but I felt like it was taking the style of the church fight and applying it to more sequences, rather than just plainly copying it beat for beat.
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It didn’t out and out copy anything, you’re right about that. It tried to give us more of what we liked, bigger and bigger at every turn. And there are some good sequences in this one. I just felt like the best parts were not the action sequences but the character stuff, which was done really well (to the point that I wished I had rewatched the first so I could catch all the references).
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Nice review. As you know, I just loved the set decoration going on.
Poppyland was extravagant and so much fun.
So was the Statesman property.
This movie really gives everyone permission to go way over the top.
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You’re right, the set design was amazing in its over the topness!
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I keep seeing the commercials for this and thinking it looks like mindless good times.
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That is exactly what it is. It’s unselfconsciously big and fun.
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I so want to see this!
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I find the trend to have the sequel of a highly successful movie, made anywhere else in the world, ‘come to America’, in order to be ‘successful’, annoying and predictable. (I know – follow the money, but it does get a bit tiresome)
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It doesn’t spend that much time in America, but it does pick up an American agent on the way to Cambodia, where most of the movie plays out.
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The first one was too much for me. This is a total skip.
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I I thought it was pretty much the same as the first one. Good. A little weird. The opening fight scene – the one that takes place in the car – was technically interesting in that it was filmed in such a tight space.
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