Kingsman: The Golden Circle is completely ridiculous but still so much fun

IT’S sometimes vulgar and entirely over-the-top but that doesn’t mean you’re not going to have a brilliant time watching Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

MATTHEW Vaughn knows how to do a fight scene. Propulsive, inventive and stylish, Vaughn’s combat sequences are a marvel to behold.

He always knows exactly where to direct your eye for maximum, eye-popping impact.

The British director has spent most of his career on fast-paced action flicks so when you walk into a Vaughn movie, you should know what you’re in for. Think Kick-Ass, Layer Cake and X-Men: First Class.

And when you head into a sequel for a movie which ended with a rainbow fireworks display of heads exploding, you shouldn’t expect restraint. Because you will not find any sense of subtlety in Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

It is a completely ridiculous, over-the-top movie that is more concerned with form over substance. But you know what else it is? So much fun.

There’s nothing like a well-tailored suit. (Giles Keyte/Twentieth Century Fox via AP)

Picking up a year after the events of the original film, Kingsman: The Golden Circle finds our boy Eggsy (Taron Egerton) settled in with the dapper secret spy agency and happily playing house with his Swedish princess.

Decked out in smooth threads, leaving the office one night, Eggsy is set upon by an old foe. Eggsy escapes but it’s only a short reprieve. Not long after, almost every Kingsman officer is taken out by a formidable new foe, chipper drug baron Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore).

With only himself and Merlin (Mark Strong) to avenge their fallen brethren and take down Poppy, the pair enlists the help of some American allies (Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry and a lasoo-wielding Pedro Pascal).

It’s no secret Colin Firth is reprising his role as Harry, ostensibly killed off at the end of the first movie. The bond between Harry and Eggsy was one of the arcs that grounded the 2015 original and there are still flashes of it here, though there is less character development to support the emotional heft of the father/son, mentor/mentee relationship its predecessor carried off so well.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle also marks the reunion of Firth and Moore, last seen together on-screen in Tom Ford’s gorgeous A Single Man, though their screen chemistry here is a tad different. Moore is clearly delighting in the opportunity to play the deranged Poppy.

Scene-stealer Pedro Pascal looking a bit different from his Game of Thrones days. (Giles Keyte/Twentieth Century Fox via AP)

It also makes brilliant use of John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads” — who knew Mark Strong had the chords? Denver’s classic is on somewhat of a resurgence with Kingsman the fifth major movie to feature it prominently this year alone, the others being Logan Lucky, Alien: Covenant, Okja and Free Fire.

If you look at Kingsman: The Golden Circle with purely a critical eye, there’s a lot to pick apart — primarily its silly plot, its pacing and its overlong runtime.

But this really is one of those movies you have to take as is — a riotous, sometimes-vulgar affair with dazzling action sequences. It is imbued with Vaughn’s signature cheek, right down to the Trumpian US president and Elton John’s cameo.

Of course, while its several outrageous set pieces are impressive, none had the visual poetry of the aforementioned head-popping in the original.

Rating: 3/5

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is in cinemas now.

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Originally published as Kingsman: The Golden Circle is completely ridiculous but still so much fun