Kingsman: The Golden Circle Review

The Golden Circle is a film co-written and directed by Matthew Vaughn. I loved the first Kingsman. It was a fun and entertaining venture. The trailer for this part too looked liked it will match up to the first part. But alas, it didn't

Plot: Kingsman teams up with their US counterparts, Statesman, to take down Poppy Adams and her evil organisation, The Golden Circle.

Story and direction: Matthew Vaughn has been one of my favorite directors of the action genre. The way he directs the ventures is very unique and I guess nobody can perfect the art. Considering that both of the previous writer (Jane and Matthew, who also wrote the previous part) and Matthew himself coming on board to direct this venture, I thought that this would again be a fun filled ride (Considering that his sequel to Kick-Ass was way too bad). But this film proved that Vaughn is cursed with sequels. The first scene of the car chase got me very much intrigued. It was great. Subsequent scenes were great too with Eggsy having his new girlfriend Princess Tilde and he not knowing much about the world and Roxy helping him out. But when most of Kingsman agents died that actually just blew my mind. I didn't like it. We shall talk about this later. Lets talk about Statesman. I thought we were going to see a hell lot of it. But it was as if blanks were there in the screenplay and those blanks were filled with the Statesman plot. I was sad to see them not being used so much. I mean seriously they just had an introduction to Tequilla, he gets to coma, recovers and just joins Kingsman in the end. It was as if this character was made just to make Kingsman 3. If it was all about the Kingsmen, why introduce Statesman? Then if that was not enough we have an over the top Poppy Adams who executes people with a meat slicer (which doesn't spit out blood) and tells those people loyal to her to eat a burger made put of his meat. That was totally disgusting. Also we have a POTUS who just doesn't care about rehabilitation and just decides drug users are scum. How the hell is he different from Richmond Valentine (the first Kingsman villain). Then the final act, where we apparently have Eggsy giving Poppy a dose of her own medicine and MErlin has apparently engineered that to work at an accelerated rate. If that is possible, can't a antidote be taken out of that serum? And finally : Merlin. Why kill him off!!! He was something that made Kingsman. It was as if in this film charaters were made to be killed off. Now it's not all bad. There was some good too. The film is beautifully photographed. The locations look iconic. The action scenes are well choreographed and looked quite real (Although the VFX was not up to the mark but still better than the first part). The chemistry between Harry and Eggsy was to look out for. And finally, Henry Jackman. This man incorporated such beautiful songs and background socre to this film.

Performances: Colin Firth was again great as Harry Hart. Taron Egerton is a star in the making. Julianne More was good too, but Sam Jackson was better. Mark Strong was excellent. Sad to see that this was his last Kingsman film. Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry and Channing Tatum were good but not mcuh was given to them. Pedro Pascal was a good addition to the cast. Edward Holcroft and Elton John were great in what they were given. Was good to see Elton John entertain us. Hanna Alstrom was good too and was good to see her given little time in this film.

Favorite Scene: The scene where Eggsy tries to make Harry remember who he actually is by bringing in Mr. Pickles. That scene for me highlighted the chemistry between Eggsy and Harry and still reminded me why these are my two favorite characters.

Verdict: On the whole, The Golden Circle was a one time watch. Was quite sad to see Matthew Vaughn trying to favor studio executives. He is much better than this. I hope if they bring a third part (which Vaughn says is apparently the last), it will bring the Kingsman spirit back.

I am going with a 6.5/10.