Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

[mr_rating_result]

Matthew Vaughn once again directs the second chapter of  “Kingsman.” This one is titled “Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle.” The action is dependably frenetic and furious in the mode of a Marvel epic and while not much surprising happens, Colin Firth and Taron Egerton reprise their roles, putting the action on solid footing.

This time the British Avengers duo is fighting Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore), a power mad drug dealer with an obsession for the pop culture of the 1950s.  Eggsy (Egerton) is being assaulted by the robotic-limbed Charlie (Edward Holcroft) and he is put through the wringer.

No worry though. Our hero survives this pummelling in time to meet his girlfriend Princess Tilde (Hanna Alstrom). All is not well though. A flurry of bombs arrive and many agents are vaporized.

Eggsy is whisked away to a secret location, a whiskey distillery manned by a cowboy intelligence officer (Channing Tatum) and Champ (Jeff Bridges) as the Spy in Chief.

Eggsy finds that Harry (Firth) has amnesia and has regressed to his adolescence.

But how to stop Poppy and her evil plan for (you guessed it) world domination through chemistry?

Though the sequences are often silly and campy, Moore has fun with her role, relishing her time as an amoral villain in the manner of “Sweeney Todd” mixed with a dash of Bob’s Big Boy burgers.

The way she slaps a hamburger on a grill may just put you off meat for a week. 

The most compelling thing about Poppy though is her jab at the Trump Era. “Lets make America greater,” she says, “And end the war on drugs!” 

The president in the film, presumably a Republican,  has no heart, feeling that the addicts are useless and not worth saving. He could care less about an antidote shaped like a perfume bottle. 

Aside from a small political subtext, this is a comic book film through and through. The action is fast paced and fun and even though one swears that Firth did exactly the same combat moves in the last film, he is still watchable. 

After all its Colin Firth.

Where the film suffers is in its cardboard roles of Tequila and Whiskey who just don’t do all that much. 

And after you see Julianne Moore being catty and evil behind a stainless steel counter, her magnetism wanes. 

So much whacking, bashing and crashing has the feel of a 1966 Batman episode starring Adam West which is eye-poppingly retro and sizzling to the eye but curiously without lasting power.

In the midst of it all, Halle Berry appears in a very uninspired cameo as Ginger, a tech expert. 

That being said however, fans of Elton John can take heart. The superstar himself appears as a drug addicted hostage forced to perform in Poppy’s theater, looking like a plucked chicken in sequined glasses. In one scene the vivid virtuoso is dressed as a floral peacock as he delivers a knockout kick to a minion. “Fuck You!”  John yells.

Suffice to say, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” contains more kitsch than a drag show. 

Write Ian at ianfree1@yahoo.com