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| Image credit: IGN.com |
The
spy comedy is probably one of the most interesting genres around because you
don’t see it that often. Aside from Melissa McCarthy’s Spy, the last big string of spy spoofs that I remember are the
Austin Powers movies, and that’s going back over a decade! It’s a subgenre that
gets forgotten about and then gains popularity again when a bored director
decides it’s what the movie market needs. Thus in 2015 we were given The Kingsman, which surprised everyone.
Obviously in a good way because it got the green light for a sequel.
The Golden Circle follows
field agent Eggsy (Taron Egerton) and tech master Merlin (Mark Strong) in their
quest to save the world from a psychopath drug manufacturer (Julianne Moore)
after she poisons all of her products and holds the world ransom to legalise
recreational drug use. Time is against them as half the world is infected and,
to make matters worse, Poppy manages to destroy all of Kingsman’s agents. In
order to save the world, Eggsy and Merlin must team up with their American
cousins, the Statesmen, to bring down Poppy and her drug empire.
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| Image credit: Rotten Tomatoes |
The first
movie was such a surprise with its MA rating and somehow, un-gory climax of
heads exploding, I was concerned that the moviemakers would somehow try and
best that (and overdo it in the process). Thankfully, director Matthew Vaughn
and the writers decided to up the ante on a different front: the villain. Poppy
is a strange villain. She’s kind of a cross between Heath Leger’s Joker and a
Stepford Wife. She’s all smiles and cheerful 1950s housewife visage, even when
she’s feeding employees burgers made from their ‘fallen’ colleagues, and
there’s no given rhyme or reason to her actions other than ‘she’s crazeh’,
which is now apparently a character type for women…
And it seems that there
were some struggles in adding dept to the film, which eventually got given up
on by the looks. Firth’s character is back (not a spoiler, the trailers give
that away) and I can see they tried to have some sort of character
journey/story between him and Eggsy, but it fell flatter than a crepe.
Whatever
other drama aside from the central plot they tried to inject was rejected with
a cinematic upchuck reflex.
Ultimately Golden
Circle isn’t better than the first movie because it doesn’t have that fresh
novelty. The story is a strategic save the world narrative taking the place of
Bond meets My Fair Lady, which is fine
but not groundbreaking, the action sequences are cool if a little cartoonish,
and the characters are all pretty bland and archetypal. All the elements work
together to make a good popcorn movie, but really that’s all this is: a film
that you can just watch and don’t have to think through. It may start with all
guns blazing, but by the end of Kingsman:
The Golden Circle you’re left feeling a little zoned out and unfulfilled.
Starring: Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Mark
Strong, Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Hanna Alstrom, Edward Holcroft, Michael
Gambon, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges, Pedro Pascal, and Elton John
Rating: MA
Year: 2017
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