Summer may be over but the big budget releases keep on coming. This time, it’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the sequel to the movie that caught audiences by surprise, offering up a fun and original take on the spy genre. The only downside to such an unexpected hit is that it raises peoples’ expectations for the next installment. Kingsman: The Golden Circle had a lot of excitement and hopes surrounding it. The question was if it could live up to all of them.

     Going into this movie you know you’re going to get at the very least a fun and entertaining two hours. Director Matthew Vaughn has had so many hits like X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass, and Layer Cake that you can trust he’s going to come up with something enjoyable. 

     After having such a success on your hands like Kingsman: The Secret Service, you can’t help but have a little confidence. It’s hard because sometimes that confidence translates into a sequel that feels very bloated and self-indulgent. If nothing else, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, is an extremely ambitious movie. They even make Elton John a part of the supporting cast. On one hand, that gives Vaughn tons of room to create and explore some really cool elements and set pieces like Julianne Moore’s Poppy Land or the Statesman organization. Unfortunately, with so much going on, the film also begins to feel very disjointed. For a large portion of Kingsman, the Poppy Land scenes and Statesman plots feel like they come from two completely separate movies. It may have been beneficial for Vaughn to focus on just one or the other, giving him the opportunity to explore and flesh out the characters more. 

     Like I said before, the confidence from the first film definitely gave Vaughn the courage to take some risks in the sequel. That risk pays off with the great visuals and action that Kingsman: The Golden Circle boasts. Where it doesn’t work is in some of the bold and off putting choices that Vaughn makes. There’s a few things that are unnecessarily gruesome and disgusting. There’s also an issue with the way a specific character is handled. I understand it’s there to drive the plot from point A to B but there are other ways it could have been done. The way it’s executed feels very heavy handed and doesn’t fit the rest of the story. The only other minor issue is that it runs about 15-20 minutes too long. That being said, Kingsman: The Golden Circle sticks the landing in its final action set-piece. It blows the original’s out of the water.

     Kingsman: The Golden Circle is what you’d expect. A good time. Is it as good as the first? Probably not. However, there’s a ton to enjoy and the humor and Elton John’s role in the film are amazing. It feels pretty messy at times but at the end of the day it’s still captures the Kingsman spirit. 6.5/10