Originally published in Cinema Knife Fight September 25, 2017
Let me start off by
saying I was not a huge fan of the first film in this series, KINGSMAN:
THE SECRET SERVICE (2014, based on the comic book The
Secret Service by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons). Likely, I’d gone
into that one with the wrong expectations. From what I’d seen in the trailers,
I’d assumed the first KINGSMAN was a serious
alternative to the always-popular spy thriller. It was, to a point, but was
also rather goofy and took itself less seriously than one might expect in such
a film. Three years later, with a trailer that seems to set better
expectations, I sat down with buddies Dave and Scott to watch KINGSMAN:
THE GOLDEN CIRCLE (2017), with a more leveled set of
expectations. The movie would be full of action, and humor, and not take itself
all that seriously.
That
last point is key. This second entry in the KINGSMAN series
doesn’t take much of anything in the spy genre
seriously, from the technology, to the threat against the world from its newest
evil-doer, to the action itself. Instead, director Matthew Vaughan (XMEN:
FIRST CLASS, 2011), who also helmed the first KINGSMAN film,
and co-writer Jane Goldman, set out again to have fun playing in the spy
thriller sandbox, while entertaining the audience as much as possible.
And
they succeeded. Seriously, watching KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE was
the most fun I’ve had watching an action movie in a long time—barring, perhaps,
the last two GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY films, (2014,
2017). In fact, it would not be a stretch to say that KINGSMAN is
to spy movies what GUARDIANS has been to its Marvel
cousins. Funny, different, and a highly enjoyable ride.
Unlike
James Bond or MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE films, which use
mostly live stunts, KINGSMAN is heavy on CGI—not that
it looked like computer-generated action, but rather
what happened most of the time was simply beyond the laws of earthly physics.
That doesn’t matter. The opening scene’s car chase through London was so much
fun, with its stunning over-the-top action, you simply don’t care.
A
lot of the action is like this. I have never laughed so much, throughout a
film, during these types of scenes, be they car chases or ridiculously-impossible
fight sequences. I wasn’t laughing out of derision. On the contrary, I enjoyed
them so much I simply had to laugh out loud. It was either that or pee myself.
Scott
leaned over midway through and whispered something which I think encapsulates
what KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE is all about. He
said, “This is kind of an Austin Powers moment.” If the filmmakers had a
mission statement for this movie, it might have been: “Mix crazy spy gadgets
and larger-than-life bad guys from early Bond films, with the action of Jason
Bourne and the absurdity of Austin Powers, into a meat grinder. Whatever oozes
out of the other end will be our movie.” It’s a risk, to be sure, alternately
mocking and celebrating its own genre. But in this case it worked.
So
what’s this movie about? Well, bad guy Charlie (Edward Holcroft, VAMPIRE
ACADEMY, 2014) from KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE has
survived mostly-intact and now works for a new boss. He taps into the Kingsman
computers and discovers all of their secret locations. Before the movie timer
has hit 15 minutes, most of the original cast of the first film is dead, and
all of its original sets destroyed in a dozen CGI fireballs. (Don’t get me
wrong, the CGI when used, is very good, more often than not). Our hero, Eggsy (Taron
Egerton, SING, 2016, EDDIE THE EAGLE,
2016) is the only surviving member, aside from his trusty tech man Merlin,
played with quiet sincerity again by Mark Strong (THE IMITATION GAME,
2014). The duo discover the existence of an American counterpart to the
Kingsmen, so they travel across the pond for help.
Whereas
the Kingsman’s front company is a tailor of fine garments, the Yanks own one of
the largest Bourbon producers in the country, Statesman Bourbon. Kingsman
codenames all mirror King Arthur’s knights. The Statesmen use drink names. Led
by Champagne (“Champ” for short, played with an eye-twinkle by everyone’s
favorite gruff Midwesterner Jeff Bridges, playing his man clean-shaven for the
first time since the 2009’s A DOG YEAR), agents Tequila
(Channing Tatum) and Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) team up with Eggsy and Merlin and a
suddenly-alive Harry Hart (Colin Firth – THE KING’S SPEECH,
2011, MAMMA MIA!, 2008). I’m not really giving anything
away revealing this, since Harry is not only in every scene in the trailer,
he’s on the poster, too! Seems the Statesmen saved Harry’s life off-screen
using their own impossible technology after he was shot in the head at the end
of the first film, though he now suffers from regressive amnesia.
Merlin’s
American counterpart is a nerdy Halle Berry (CLOUD ATLAS,
2002, X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, 2014), codenamed Ginger
Ale, and the two become the pair behind the scenes keeping things running for
our spies.
Pedro
Pascal (GAME OF THRONES TV series) truly shines as
Whiskey, the lasso-wielding cowboy who channels Burt Reynolds in his old SMOKEY
AND THE BANDIT (1977) days for the entire movie. He smiles and
whips his lasso and is a perfect American counterpart (not sure if the actor is
American, but he certainly had a great time playing one) to his proper British
cousins.
Another
star in this already-blinding cast is the evil Poppy. Played by Julianne Moore
(THE BIG LEBOWSKI, 1998, THE HUNGER GAMES:
MOCKINGJAY, 2014/2015), she eats up the screen as a homicidal kingpin
of the worldwide drug cartel The Golden Circle, living in
isolation in the Asian jungles. She has tainted most of the illegal drugs
circulating in the world with a virus designed to kill the user in four stages.
First, blue veins spreading across the infected’s skin. They soon become crazy
and dance around. In the third stage the victim becomes paralyzed, eventually
dying in a very bloody way. When millions of people around the world are
infected, she tries to blackmail the US President (played with vile self-love by
the wonderful Bruce Greenwood of STAR TREK, 2009) into
legalizing all drugs in order the get the antidote. His response is brilliant
(as a plot twist) and sets the stage for one of the most unique latter halves
of an action film.
Poppy
also has as a permanent captive in her jungle hideout: Elton John (played by
Sir Elton John, who is utterly enjoying his role as, well, himself). John is
forced to perform his hits for her over and over again. Though they wisely gave
the famous singer only a few lines, he is not a minor character, and adds a
major level of fun absurdity to the movie.
I
won’t say much more about the plot. It twists and turns through various exotic
locales, like all great international spy thrillers do. The action is almost
non-stop, though Vaughan and Goldman give you enough breaks to eats a few
handfuls of popcorn.
As
I mentioned, I wasn’t a huge fan of the first film. One of my gripes was the
way they used super-slow-motion at the peak of many action scenes, highlighting
the actor twisting away from a punch or jumping over a speeding car. They do it
constantly here, as well, though it didn’t bother me as much. Maybe I’ve come
to expect it, but more likely I appreciated what they were doing more than last
time around. It still can be annoying, and when it happens it breaks the
illusion of the stunt (at that speed, it becomes obvious it’s an effect versus
a stunt, which is a third-wall breech for the viewer).
KINGSMAN is an R-rated film, mostly for language (the F-word is
used as often as “and” in this movie) and violence (as cartoony as it is most
of the time). And they had to have an R rating to
keep the squirm-inducing scene with Eggsy hiding a tracking bug inside
someone’s naughty bits. Mind you—and this leads us to one more point—the latter
scene is only squirm-inducing because of a side story involving Eggsy’s growing
relationship with Princess Tilde (Hanna Alstrom, REAL HUMANS TV
series), who’d given him an interesting incentive in the first film for saving
the world. She is now his girlfriend, and is introducing him to her parents,
the King and Queen of Sweden, when all hell breaks loose early in the film.
It’s a good storyline throughout, and becomes an inadvertent incentive for him
to save the world one more time.
This
is something which impressed me with the writing. So often, when a girlfriend
or love interest is attached to a hero, he/she eventually gets captured by the
bad guy and used as bait to draw said hero into action (how many times ad
nauseum did the SPIDER-MAN franchise do
this?). Every time I thought KINGSMAN would fall into
one of these tropes, it surprised me by veering off in an unexpected direction.
Like
any sequel, it helps to be familiar with the first film to understand who some
of the players are early on. I haven’t seen THE SECRET SERVICE in
years, so I struggled to remember who some of them were in the opening scenes
of THE GOLDEN CIRCLE (buddy Dave wisely watched it on
Hulu before meeting us at the theater). Once things got going, however, it
didn’t matter. They reset the rules for the Kingsman universe fairly quickly,
introducing a whole new set of characters. I wondered if perhaps they were
setting up for more sequels centered around the Statesmen. Maybe they are.
We’ll see in a couple of years when the inevitable sequel to this sequel comes
out.
So
there we are. KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE was a very
pleasant surprise. An action-packed, funny (at times very funny),
no-holds-barred homage/satire to its own universe. If you go in knowing this,
that it does not take itself seriously except around its own entertainment
value, then you will have a fun night out at the movies.
I
give it three knives.