Kingsman: The Golden Circle – Film Review

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is the sequel to the film Kingsman: The Secret Service. I was extremely excited to watch the sequel to the first Kingsman film which I loved so much. Kingsman: The Golden Circle follows the character Eggsy played by Targon Egerton, now a Kingsman agent and Mark Strong’s character Merlin. When all the Kingsman headquarters are wiped out by missiles, the two Kingsman agents travel to the United States for help from fellow independent spy organization, Statesman.

In a ridiculously farfetched plot, the Kingsman and Statesman work together to find The Golden Circle with the Kingsman team once again finding themselves on a mission help prevent mass genocide.

Unlike the original film, Kingsman: The Golden Circle clearly has a bigger budget as the characters get to travel the world this time which is kind of cool, but I found myself missing the British backdrop of the first film. I also felt that the pacing was different as there seemed to be more time for dialogue. We’re introduced to more characters, predominantly the Statesman team which consists of Jeff Bridges as Agent Champagne, Halle Berry as Agent Ginger Ale, Channing Tatum as Agent Tequila and Pedro Pascal as Agent Whiskey.

Despite the introduction of all these new characters including villain Poppy Adams played by Julianne Moore, there is very little to no character development for them. All we know is who are the good guys and who are the bad guys which is blatantly obvious in the way they are introduced. I wish that this film gave these new characters more time to flesh out their personalities and backgrounds.

The main characters however are just as brilliant as I remembered from the original film. I loved seeing Eggsy in all his dapper suits, I had missed Merlin as one of Eggsy‘s mentors, Colin Firth‘s Harry Hart and even Hanna Alström’s Princess Tilde makes a comeback in a bigger role as Eggsy’s girlfriend.

But the best part of the film is Elton John. Yes, I’m talking about Sir Elton John, the piano playing and songwriting legend. Sir Elton actually has a bigger role to play in this film compared to most of the new characters. If there are any sequels following this film in the Kingsman series, I’d want Sir Elton to make a return. That’s how much I loved him in it.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a fun ridiculously awesome spy movie. Overall the action scenes are great, the suits are sexy and seeing the characters from the original film was like being reacquainted with old friends. Is it better than the original film? No. But I still liked it and would enjoy seeing it again. If anything, I really wish there were more fun spy movies out there that are as action packed, clever and hilarious as this one. Also, if you can watch this film on a Wednesday – do it. You’ll thank me later.