Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Yes, OK, I actually saw this.  The Blu-ray was sitting on the entertainment center.  My wife checked it out from the library a few weeks after we saw the original KINGSMAN movie, which if you read my review you'll note I was less than impressed with.  Oh, all right.  Here we go again.  How bad could it be?

Turns out, I found KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE from 2017 to be a lot more entertaining than THE SECRET SERVICE, though possibly even more obnoxious and garish.  Sequels typically up the ante on just about everything and that's true here.  Several new characters are introduced, and while some are well utilized, others are wasted.  Shall we get on with the damned plot summary?

So Eggsy (Taron Egerton) has become a member of the Kingsman organization, assuming the "Galahad" title following the death of his mentor Harry (Colin Firth). He's dating the Princess of Sweden (Hanna Alstrom), and even gets to meet her parents.  We discover that Eggsy's former training competitor, Charlie (Edward Holcroft) survived the climax of the first film and is now working for the nutty but cute Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore), who runs the world's largest drug cartel in the middle of Cambodia.  She's also a psycho who manages to incinerate the Kingsman HQ and all its agents, save Eggsy and jack of all trades Merlin (Mark Strong).

The Kingsman duo later teams up with their American counterparts - Statesman, which fronts its operations as a distillery, to thwart Poppy's heinous plan to exterminate everyone in the world who's ingested her product.   It's led by Champagne (Jeff Bridges) whose upstarts Tequila (Channing Tatum) and Jack Daniels (Pedro Pascal) don't trust the Brits so quickly.  Halle Berry is on board as Ginger Ale, the IT know it all, and it's no exaggeration to state that this is one of her best roles.  Seriously.  Bridges doesn't get to do much but growl.  Tatum seems a bit too comfortable.  Pascal shows some chops.

Oh, and check the film's tagline regarding Mr. Firth, in case you were wondering.

Moore seems to enjoy her part and stays this side of getting carried away.  Elton John is on hand playing himself, a captive of Poppy.  He's forced to do concerts at her compound.  His appearance is mostly embarrassing, though there are a few smile worthy moments.  He, like much of the cast, gets to swear a lot.

THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, named after Poppy's organization, is not as in your face with references and allusions, but that's faint praise.  Co-writer/director Matthew Vaughan is clearly inspired and having a good time with his ability to wantonly conjure fantastic elements at every turn, but his film again just resembles a big video game.  The opening car chase inspires no thrills because it appears so fabricated.  The CGI really fucks everything up.  So frustrating, as likewise with the first film the stunts are intricately designed and have the potential to be exciting.

I guess the best thing I can say about this movie is that despite a nearly two and one half hour running time, I was never bored.