MOVIE: Kingsman: The Golden Circle

THE first Kingsman movie from 2015 was both a critical and box office success. The latter meant a sequel was inevitable, but is it any good?

‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ introduced the world to Kingsman – an independent, international intelligence agency operating at the highest level of discretion, whose ultimate goal is to keep the world safe. 

In ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’, our heroes face a new challenge. When their headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage, their journey leads them to the discovery of an allied spy organisation in the US called ‘Statesman’.

Eggsy, played by Taron Egerton, is back in the lead role, swaggering around London in his three-piece Savile Row suit. 

His world is turned upside down when an evil drug lord, correction drug lady, Poppy (played by Julianne Moore), literally explodes onto the scene and with Merlin (Mark Strong) for company, Eggsy sets out to seek revenge and save humanity from destruction. Along the way he discovers that his boss Harry (Colin Firth), who took a bullet in the head in the first movie, may not be quite so dead after all. 

The film is written and directed by Matthew Vaughn who was on board for the previous instalment as well as helming ‘Kick Ass’ and ‘X-Men: First Class’. 

His vision for the Kingsman movies was to take the spy genre and create something more fun and wacky. That, he certainly achieved, and this version is even more off the wall and trippy than the first. 

Make no mistake, this movie is very very silly indeed, ridiculous even, and that can be a fine line to tread, with the danger of tipping over into the absurd always lurking around the corner. 

For example, if we tell you that Elton John has been kidnapped and is held up in the jungle to perform his greatest hits for Poppy, you will realise that absolutely anything goes here.

Fans of the series should be entertained, but overall ‘Kingsman’ falls short in delivering the top class service it aims for. We award it a bronze, not gold, 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Paul O’Rourke