Big Screen Favorites: Kingsman - The Golden Circle

Kingsman: The Golden Circle seems to be what happens when a director takes everything beloved about his original work, and exaggerates it to the point where its charm is lost. Make no mistake, this is still an entertaining film, with fun performances and vibrant action sequences, but one cannot help but feel slightly underwhelmed knowing that everything present here is something that can be found in the original, and done better there as well.

The plot is easily the weakest aspect of this film. A major event occurs early on that, while shocking, severely limits where future Kingsman films can go--I find it odd that the writers would choose to do this in only the second film in their franchise, rather than later on in the series. And the main threat in the film, while unique (a toxin laced in every kind of recreational drug, eventually leading to death in its victims) eventually leads to confusing and hamfisted social commentary on drugs, which feels completely out of place in a lighthearted and satirical action film. The twists and turns in this movie overall just don't seem to jibe like they did in the first; it doesn't help when one of the driving subplots (I won't spoil it here) is one that ruins a major event in the first film. Finally, the pacing in the movie is poor--the total running time is two hours and twenty minutes, and it shows with how much the film seems to drag toward the end, to the point where I was almost desperately awaiting the credits.

The acting is hit or miss. All of the returning actors (Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, as well as a surprise appearance from another original character) continue to do great work, but the new characters are far more of a mixed bag. Julianne Moore is a standout as the quirky main antagonist, and Pedro Pascal emerges as another charismatic addition. However, other characters played by talented actors such as Channing Tatum and Jeff Bridges feel extremely underused, to the point where it seems they were only included to add more "star power" rather than to actually play important parts.

The action sequences are once again the highlight; none top the high bar set by the church fight in the original, but some do come close, and I never felt bored or confused during any of these sequences. It is a shame that the rest of the film couldn't match this aspect. Kingsman: The Golden Circle is enjoyable, but it never rises above serviceable status due to its many writing flaws, strange social commentary, and underdeveloped characters. I would give it 2.5 stars out of 5.