Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Manners maketh man. Do you know what that means? Only a man with manners would know. 

Kingsman: The Secret Service. From the sick opening featuring Dire Straits to the refreshing take on British secret intelligence, from the quirky villainy behind world domination to the tacit 18+ sexual innuendos, from the blood boiling John Wick-esque action montage to the hilariously formal yet informal dialogue, and the church scene (oh goodness, the church scene), forget about James Bond because the first Kingsman was one of the best spy films to ever grace the cinema in recent decades. And of course, with it absolutely owning the box office, I think we all saw a birth of a franchise coming. Now, after two long years, here we are with Kingsman: The Golden Circle. So just how much of the kickassery does the sequel retain from its predecessor?

Here were main things I expected: an amazing opening accompanied by an amazing retro song, a villain with a creatively devised evil scheme, and anything that was on par, if not better, than the church scene (although, nothing in the near future will ever supersede it). These are fairly high demands for any film, and because The Secret Service was so creative in its production, I feared that Matthew Vaughn (director) hardly had any left for the second installation. This conjecture sadly turns out to be true in many extents, but it doesn't rationalize the unforgivingly low ratings slapped onto the front pages of, say, RogerEbert.com or Rollingstone. Is this film tarnished with some glaring deficiencies? Absolutely. But does it deserve a 1/5 (The Guardian)? Or even a 0/4 (RogerEbert.com)??? HECK NO.

It is difficult to follow the plot to its fullest potential without watching The Secret Service first. There is a good handful of characters, backgrounds, and relationships that are reintroduced, and insinuated, but not sufficiently explained in The Golden Circle. For example, what importance does Agent Harry bear? In fact, who is Agent Harry? What is this “manners maketh man” stuff that is supposed to evoke nostalgia? Questions like these can possibly confuse or disinterest those aren't familiar with the franchise, which is such an unfortunate waste of delight. Little details aside though, Kingsman is a private intelligence organization (very much like MI6 and IMF from James Bond and Mission Impossible respectively) based in Britain. Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, code name "Galahad", had just saved the world in the previous film is now an established British spy, but he is faced with a greater threat as the entire Kingsman agency is wiped out by the world's largest drug cartel, called the Golden Circle. Surviving Kingsman agents, Eggsy and Merlin, escape to the United States of America, where they find their cousinly spy organization called Statesman, as it will take both sides of the pond to defeat a vicious enemy, and avenge Eggsy's Kingsman colleagues. 

Eggsy, our hero of the day, is an altogether spectacular character. Think Alex Rider or Cody Banks, but infinitely beefed up in every way possible. His development since the first film from being a lousy "chav" to a top British spy is absolutely delightful, and he brings an exotic flair and personality that are much needed in a 21st century spy film. However, the best part of The Golden Circle is arguably the Statesman, which is basically an American spin-off of the Kingsman organization. The Statesman weapons, suits, methodology and style are imbued with unique stereotypes (e.g. an electric (lightsaber-ish?) lasso that is indicative of the American cowboy archetype), all of which newly defines the image of an American spy. Kudos to Pedro Pascal, Channing Tatum, and Jeff Bridges for pulling this off. 

As action packed and comical The Golden Circle is, however, there are some disappointingly glaring shortcomings that sucks the excitement out at certain points. First and foremost, the 144 minute run time is a big issue, which is plastered with overblown lengths of fighting and slow-motion exhibitions of fancy suits and gadgets. It was as if the Kingsman franchise completely lost its identity as a welcomingly unconventional take on modern spies, but is now overly riddled with outlandish stunts and so on. The action was really cool in The Secret Service, but I'm not sure whose brilliant idea it was to just repeatedly bombard the majority of the 144 minutes with fights, fights, and fights. And if the effort was made to erase only 10 minutes of such nonsense, this film would have been more in line with what it intended to be.

Villainy is a component that I get very interested in more than the protagonist him/herself in any form of literature. Darth Vader, Megatron, Joker, Smaug, and Dr. Evil are some of the greatest driving forces in their respective films because they cause the conflict that is so essential to any plot. Plus, they are badass. The first Kingsman film was able to achieve this with its very own shrewd and charismatic, but haemophobic maniac, Richmond Valentine, portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson. However, much to my chagrin in the second one, Poppy Adams, the Harvard-graduate mastermind who orchestrated the entire destruction of Kingsman and brought the world to its knees, is a painfully plain character. At best, the only characteristic that could have raised an eyebrow is Poppy's ironic disgust at drugs (even sugar), even though she runs the largest drug cartel in the world. Make no mistake, this isn't an egregious flaw compared to other spy films out there, but it is just relatively disappointing to witness such a significant downgrade from Samuel L. Jackson. 

What The Golden Circle truly boils down to is an unsuccessful attempt at replicating the original. Albeit having a lot to live up to, the final delivery of this film lacked a definitive highlight where the audience could walk out of the theaters and say "That was awesome." In simplest terms, The Golden Circle exists to quench the our thirst for "more Kingsman", which means suits, cool gadgets, classy spies, breathtaking violence, British vernacular, sex, booze, one-liners and so on. However, the striking imbalance and disproportions between all these ingredients caused several problems, that were absent in the original. For instance, while the plot was an interesting flow of dirty politics and personal principle intervention, it sometimes gets blurred out by an overdose of fighting scenes. Likewise, individual characters like the Statesman and Poppy Adams show incredible potential and introduce a new persona, but the exploration into their traits lack depth because most of the film focus on them whipping out a couple of magnums and putting a few bullets into henchmen's face, while doing a somersault and all. In fact, the writing's decision to needlessly kill off some characters, like they never existed in the first place, is just baffling and incomprehensible.

As a Kingsman fan, I expected too much from this film, and knowing that recreating The Secret Service (especially the church scene) was near impossible anyways, I wholeheartedly acknowledge that its successor roams on the screens with commendable versatility. Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a charismatic jack-of-all-trades that melds action, adventure, comedy and spy together into a stylized mosaic, which is a worth it watch anyday, anytime. That is guaranteed.  Interestingly enough, it is also confirmed that there will be a third Kingsman (no surprises there) in 2019, with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson possibly taking villainy mantel. An exotic choice of casting indeed! A Statesman spin-off has also been in discussion, although that probably won't arrive anytime soon. But if you haven't gotten your hands on Kingsman: Secret Service yet, make the right choice and dive into that first. Only then will you understand what "manners maketh man" truly means. 

Verdict: Super 8 Box Office: $381.3 million Release Date: September 22, 2017 Rewatchable: Yes

You will be blown away by the original if you haven't watched it.