Kingsman: The Golden Circle

image source

An outcast villainess named Poppy Adams (played by Julianne Moore) is trying to blackmail her way back into society through a drug she created. She wipes out most of the Kingsman knowing they will try to stop her. The only ones left are Eggsy (played by Taron Egerton), Merlin (played by Mark Strong), and a revealed to still be alive Harry (played by Colin Firth). The three team up with their American counterparts called Statesman. There weren’t any points where I really felt the movie dragged out too much, or where I felt bored. I had a good time watching this movie. The actors all give good performances. Matthew Vaughn once again directs with his signature style. Unfortunately, this movie does fall into the trap of assuming bigger is better. In the first film, when a surprise villain came up, they were at least in league with Samuel L. Jackson. Here, there are villain characters that have no other allegiances other than themselves. Meanwhile, there are characters that are in league with Poppy. To have so many antagonists with so many different agendas, it does feel a bit crowded at times. There are characters here that feel a little underused, but there’s also characters from the first film that actually do get more development than what was initially there. The Statesman characters are fun enough. The problem is that outside Pedro Pascal as Whiskey, they all feel more like glorified cameos. The performances are good enough, though that you don’t really care that much. A lot of people criticized the movie’s 141 minute running time. I understand this criticism, but the movie’s length was never really something that bothered me. I was never bored. There weren’t really any points where I felt like something could’ve been completely cut out. I was pretty thoroughly entertained throughout the whole movie. Kingsman: The Golden Circle was a fun time, even if it never quite reached the first movie’s heights.

6 / 10