Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)

Release Date: 20 September, 2017


What's It About: The Kingsman are brought to total devastation when their headquarters is destroyed in a missile attack. Eggsy and Merlin have to team up with their American counterparts, the Statesman, where they meet a familiar face. Together they must save the world from the next terror to hold it hostage.


The Good: Hilariously over the top mayhem and explosive action, and plenty of gravity-defying stunts in slow motion. The suits look sharp. The gadgets look cool. The stunt work is impeccable. There's this one guy with a cybernetic arm who can hack into computer systems from a car. The jokes are still great, but a little more risqué than in the first one. The American cast fits in quite well and act a bit more as a meta-narrative juxtaposition to the self-referential jokes towards other British spy films the British characters are constantly serving up, whilst injecting their own brand of Americana into it for more laughs. Elton John is also in it.


The Bad: The plot has no grievances killing off established characters from the first film, thus negating their development, but in an inversion of this trope, brings back one that we thought was dead from the first film. There's a highly violent meat grinder death scene, as well as an even more controversial sex scene than the first one. It's also a bit too long and feels drawn out. Elton John is in it.


Best Performance: Mark Strong as Merlin. One could argue that he acts as the film's rock, hand-holding us through the film's shenanigans just as he does Eggsy's, but the truth is he's just as outrageous as the worst of them. In a cast of characters who are all trying very, very hard to be cool, he is arguably the only one who achieves it naturally.


Should I Watch It: As with all sequels, this one had a bigger budget and thus tacitly promised to be bigger and more insane. The film still has the tongue-in-cheek fun that the franchise is known for, but unless it starts to either even out its tone and dial it back a notch to allow room for character and narrative growth to occur, most of the screentime of any further films will continue to be parodies and gags.


Post-Credits Scene: No


Similar Films: Austin Powers, Man of Mystery (1999), Team America, World Police (2004), All James Bond films (1962-2015)


Trailer: