Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) Review

Kingsman: The Golden Circle Review

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Screenwriters: Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman

Producers: Matthew Vaughn, David Reid, and Adam Bohling

Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Taron Egerton, Halle Berry, Channing Tatum, and Jeff Bridges

Composer: Henry Jackman and Matthew Margeson

Cinematographer: George Richmond

Editor: Eddie Hamilton

Production Company: Marv Films

Part I: Introduction

I liked the first Kingsman movie. It was a nice spy action thriller film that was fun to watch. So, I was pretty curious to see how its successor would hold up against the first in the Kingsman franchise. Does it hold up to the first film? Sadly, I'm afraid to say that it doesn't.

Part II: Plot Synopsis

The Kingsman headquarters and many of the Kingsman agents have been wiped out. The remaining agents initiate the Doomsday protocol to find and terminate an evil secret organization named The Golden Circle.

Part III: Direction & Style

Direction
In my opinion, one of the film's greatest aspect is direction and style. I think Matthew Vaughn is a good director and he has shown off some merit with films in the past before with X-Men First Class and the first Kingsman movie. Here, I think kinda falls short a bit because it feels like he overshot it a bit. I'll go into detail with that in the next section. Style.

Style
When I said Matthew Vaughn sort of overshot it with this film, I meant that I think the film is a bit too overstylized. That could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the viewer. For me, personally, I wasn't bothered by the style in the movie. The over-stylization, I think, becomes noticeable during action sequences. The movie retains being an action comedy and a movie like this works as that. Luckily, this overstylized presentation doesn't occur in all of the action sequences and I think many of the action was well shot and well-choreographed.

Part IV: Visual Presentation

Cinematography & Framing
Cinematography isn't anything great here. It's good cinematography that will keep your eyes interested, but just nothing noteworthy that really caught my attention or noticed. The visual presentation, overall, is actually pretty standard.

Camerawork
The camerawork can be a glaring issue depending on the person. I mentioned that the action feels too over-stylized. The camerawork kinda contributes to it feeling over-stylized. In the first movie, it did also have somewhat erratic camera motion, but here I feel as though they went overboard with the camerawork for style. There are some points where the action feels like I'm watching a video game sequence instead of people actually fighting each other. I know Kingsman is supposed to over-the-top but it feels like they're doing too much here.

Acting
The actors have done a fine job here. Taron Egerton, Channing Tatum, Colin Firth, Mark Strong. The only actor I felt gave a questionable performance was Julianne Moore. She plays as the villain in the movie and her character isn't memorable. The first film had a bizarre character as well played by Samuel L. Jackson, but at least the villain in that movie had charisma. Maybe it was her performance or maybe it was the way her character was written, but I just didn't like her character.

Editing
The editing here is mostly solid. There are some places in the editing they could have done better. The film is oddly paced. There are some sequences that I think don't really need to be there or it disturbs the pace that the previous scene established.

Visual Effects
The visual effects, in my opinion, look good. No complaints there.

Part V: Sound Design and Musical Composition

Sound Design 

Sound design is okay.

Score

I think Henry Jackman's score is solid. I particularly enjoyed listening to some of the tracks in his score and added to the movie.

Part VI: Screenwriting & Character Composition

Script & Screenwriting

The script is not that great here. I think the biggest problem with the script, aside from pacing, is that it's constantly trying to be "bigger and badder" than the first movie. It falls into that trap that a lot of sequels of great movies do. So, in return, it ends up falling short of the creative magic the first one had. And in a story perspective, it falls short as well.

Character Composition

In my opinion, character composition is weaker here than in the first one. I do like some things that they do with characterization such as bringing back Harry. But, other than that, the character composition isn't very good. For example, as I said in the plot synopsis, many of the Kingsman agents get wiped out. Problem is that the people who die, you don't even know. So, you don't really care when most of the Kingsman agents get wiped out.

Pacing

The pacing of this movie is one of the worst aspects of this movie. It feels a lot longer than what it actually is. It's almost 2.5 hours long, yet it feels like a 3.5 hour long movie. I was holding up my watch to see what the time was. It also feels as though 30% of the movie could have been cut and replaced to make the film more concise and make the film not feel so long.

Part VII: Verdict & Conclusion

Overall, this isn't a bad movie in my opinion. It just could be better. It is still worth a watch for entertainment value. Most of the film's problems come from the script. It's too long. The pacing hurt the film. I think the characters aren't as memorable as the first one. However, it still has some merit. There were a few funny scenes spiced into the movie. I liked the action sequences. I also liked the introduction of the Statesman and this exaggerated depiction of America. Kingsman: The Golden Circle does pretty much everything the first movie did, except the first one did it better.

Score: B-