[Review] Kingsman: The Golden Circle (7/10)

I guess it's official now. Matthew Vaughn should not do sequels. Now before you get the wrong idea, Kingsman: The Golden Circle was not bad. I did not hate it. But it should have been better.

I'll just start off with saying this will be a SPOILER heavy post so you have been warned.

First of all, we did not need to know that Colin Firth's Harry was still alive from all the marketing materials. It would have been a nice re-introduction and a surprise to the audience.

But here's my argument, I thought the way the first movie developed and ended was as good as it could have been. We did not need to have Firth back for this second one. The cast on its own were strong enough to pull audiences, even though Firth was the best part of the first movie.

Also, Taron Egerton as the leading man was surprisingly good because he carried it. He was not the lead in the first one so he was not in that position to be in that light. But here, he did great.

Plus, Mark Strong's Merlin could have played the role of Firth's without missing too much of a beat. He did not have to die perhaps until the third movie. And if we did not have Firth back, the movie could have focused more on its new characters like Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry or even Elton John, Bruce Greenwood and Emily Watson.

Julianne Moore as another version of Samuel L. Jackson's first villain felt more like a poor man's Jackson. She did not sparkle, was not funny nor interesting, and died so uneventfully.

I surprisingly liked Elton John's inclusion here. Unlike Rihanna in Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, John was effective and funny, and used correctly. Also, Greenwood felt like a caricature of the current American president Donald Trump; being ridiculous and stupid and making wrong decisions. It's not subtle at all as his character ended in handcuffs.

The clear negatives here started with Channing Tatum's character who was featured quite heavily in the marketing materials but only had a few handful of scenes. I also thought Sophie Cookson's Roxy did not need to die as she was a very good character from the first movie (although they may bring her back, maybe in a similar way like they brought back Edward Holcroft).

The middle of the movie went on for too long, especially with Firth's confused and confusing character going through his own arc that took too much screentime and made certain scenes unnecessary.

I was also surprised they brought back Hanna Alstrom and gave her such a big role. But she became very irritating when she started avoiding phone calls. That whole plot was unnecessary.

But I would be remiss if I did not highlight Pedro Pascal's Whiskey, the coolest new character to be introduced with really cool weapons in the lasso and the whip. This character was done right.

The ending of the movie did set up for another future movie which I will welcome because the positives here did outweigh my negatives. I had a lot of fun, Vaughn still delivered in action sequences and also the humour, "Manners maketh man", that was hilarious!