Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Review 1.5 Palms out of 4
by Manuel Reynoso
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a 2017 action film produced and directed by Matthew Vaughn and written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman. Sequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), based on the comic book series Kingsman, created by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar. Starring Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Edward Holcroft, Sophie Cookson, and Hanna Alström reprising their roles from the first film, with Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Pedro Pascal, Elton John, Channing Tatum, and Jeff Bridges joining the cast
When the Kingsmen are successfully attacked from all sides, the remaining Kingsmen must team up with the American based Statesman organization to tackle a new world threat.
I love a good action movie from time to time, but I am definitely picky. I like ’em lean, I like ‘em mean, and I like ‘em real clean. Now when I say lean, I don’t necessarily mean short. I just don’t want the film bogged down by a superfluous amount of plot. Give me the backstory, create a strong setting, hit the inciting event in just over 10 minutes, and then run wild. Once we’re running, I want it to be mean. PG-13 action flicks just don’t have the same kick as a gruesome rated R slugfest. Lastly, I want to see some clean visuals and tight fight choreography.
Now Kingsman: the Golden Circle is certainly mean. It has great, over-the-top action scenes that absolutely made me giddy. The fight choreography itself is also pretty clean, and avoids overuse of quick cuts and shaky cam ridden scenes. However, It’s unfortunately rather difficult to recommend Kingsman: the Golden Circle when the film is just way to painstakingly long.
It’s an absolute slog to get through the non-action scenes. The few tasty morsels are hidden in a stew of boring exposition and needless backstory. Kingsman: the Golden Circle has no excuse being 2 hours and 20 minutes. It feels completely padded and just brings down the overall quality of the film. 40 minutes could be trimmed from the film and the film would be substantially better. Especially that awful, awful music festival scene. Axe that, with a literal axe, please.
Sound mixing as well was a bit hit and miss in my opinion. Some scenes are obnoxiously loud with, at least according to my taste, ill-fitting music leading the scene. Quite a shame considering the first theatrical trailer was absolutely amazing. Hearing Frank Sinatra’s My Way lead me to believe they’d keep up with this style, but was disappointed by the soundtrack they chose.
The acting on the other hand is great. The new Statesman characters juxtapose really well with the Kingsman, but with so many new characters, the film finds it very difficult to give each character ample screen time to really develop them into something great. The biggest travesty it’s how much of Channing Tatum’s character is just robbed of screen time. Pacing yet again is to blame with the lack of sufficient character development.
Now I really enjoyed about 45 minutes worth of the film. Which wouldn’t be a problem if there was another hour and a half tacked right on to it. An action movie with heroes based on British and American caricatures is such a strong gimmick. It’s goofy and fun but unless the potential sequel can be more focused, I don’t see the Kingsman series being worth any sort of special praise. Rated R 2h 21m
