"Manners maketh man."

Kingsman: the Golden Circle

Mini Review

[September 21st, 2017]

September has been a slower month compared to August in regards to big studio movies, which is a lifesaver since going out to watch them every single week would burn through my wallet just like that. Having It and now Kingsman: the Golden Circle are a nice treat to fill in the time before my most anticipated movie two weeks from now: Blade Runner 2049! With that being said, I had a great time watching the movie last Thursday especially with my best friend, Gabriel Samson.

Moving on the motion picture itself, it is a continuation of Eggsy's [Taron Edgerton] journey as a Kingsman that has to cross the pond and enlist the help of the Statesman, the American equivalent of their secret spy organization. The director Matthew Vaughn was adapting loosely from Mark Millar's comic book series for the first iteration and made it an effective commentary on the spy sub-genre while still having a lot of fun with the concept and even providing heartfelt journey that spearheaded the storyline. This anticipated sequel on the other hand now have the added pressure to follow up on the surprising success of his solid spy flick and he embraced what made it famous and memorable to the fans wholeheartedly but whether it's for better or for worse, it is up for interpretation. 

Despite the relentless action sequences over the top violence in the predecessor, the ongoing journey of the young man from a regular Joe to finally become a fully fledged spy that was forced under duress because of the impending worldwide doom orchestrated by a colourful supervillain was the one thing that tied everything together. The same can't be said here however that despite the similarities of the threat, the emotional baggage is now on the shoulder of a returning familiar face while the change of scenery to the Stateside is the main throughline of the sequel since it is where Statesman is located and revolved in while the main antagonist bring us through a nostalgic trip on the iconic retro looks and architecture from the yesteryears. The increase in scope and concept such as the technologies both sides are using to the locales they are travelling to would resulted in the world feeling that much bigger and global but all of these would be that much harder to string them all together and being cohesively told without the whole premise buckling under the pressure. For what it is worth, I believe the sacrifice of grounded emotional storyline for a more bombastic ride through the Kingsman world was worth it in the end. It might not match the excellence of Kingsman but the Golden Circle was a wild ride from beginning to the very end!

What do you think? Are you looking forward to see it? You may not need to watch the first one to understand the premise but you will definitely get the most out of it if you do.

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That's is for now ... please tune in for my full review in the future. Until next time!