Difference Of Opinion: Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Bigger Is Far From Better
- Sep 26, 2017
- 3 min read
I exited the theater after watching The Golden Circle and had one thought on my mind, "I should've stayed at home and watched the first movie." I'm not going to rehash the plot, or attempt to address the points brought up in Chris' more positive review, instead I will talk about exactly what is is that made the Kingsman sequel so disappointing. Be warned ye who enter, spoilers ahead.
From an overfilled plot, an utterly dull first half, and absurd villain, The Golden Circle doesn't seem to know what it is, and neither do I. There are at least three plot lines that could have cut in their entirety, making for a much better film.
To start with, Eggsy's (Taron Egerton) relationship with the Swedish princess from the first film. Aside from providing the motivation for the third act of the film, because a virus that would kill millions wasn't enough, it serves little more than to give us the usual threads. Boy has to do something to achieve his goal. Girl doesn't want him to do this thing so she throws a tantrum and ignores him. Except this time the world hangs in the balance and it feels all the more petty for it.
Up next, the traitor. First, some background. The villain, Poppy, played by Julianne Moore, has somehow achieved a monopoly on the illegal drugs trade and has infected much of the world with a lethal virus. Enter Whiskey (Pedro Pascal), a member of The Statesmen, The Kingsmen's American counter part, and a man whose family where slain as a result of drug violence. So he wants all the junkies gone, far enough. His reward for doing what he sees as noble, he's minced, literally. This part of the film has nothing to do with anything else.
Finally there's Elton John who "cameos" in this film, by which I mean he has more screen time than both Halle Berry and Jeff Bridges. While funny at first, the jokes soon become tiring and seem like nothing more than a waste of time.
Then there's the action. While the first film was solid in this department, the sequel is less so. While the ideas for the action scenes are undeniably great, the execution is less so. With an over-reliance on slow motion and exaggerated camera movement, there's no real sense of space nor place, something the first film didn't suffer from. There's one action scene that doesn't feel like it's bouncing you about the set and while it consists of little more than one man shooting many men with style, the stable nature of its filming enables it to stand out from the positively awful camera work of the rest.
While I give our three leads, Egerton, the returning Colin Firth and Mark Strong, praise for their acting, the praise ends there. Strong and Firth handily steal the show and while Egerton is fine on his own he's somewhat overshadowed alongside two powerhouses. Unfortunately, and this is a MAJOR SPOILER, Strong's Merlin, arguably the films best character, is killed of without any real reason, at all. In the first film, Firth's character was killed to provide motivation for Eggsy to return to the fray. Here, Merlin's demise is nothing more than the setup for a pretty dumb joke.
But there's one last nail in the coffin, what finally killed the film, and that's the villain. While Moores acting is solid, the character is so mind bogglingly bizarre that she makes little to no sense. Her goal, to make money. But she also lives in a jungle surrounded by 1950's paraphernalia for...reasons. One thing's for sure, she's no Sam Jackson, and the one flashback that reminded me of his far better villain finished this movie off.
So, should you go see The Golden Circle. I don't think so. It's probably worth checking out on Netflix or DVD/Bluray, just be prepared for an overstuffed, often boring, mess of a movie. There's some genuinely funny moments here and there, the main cast is solid, but other than that, I can't recommend it.
Comments