The first movie was a surprising success and also a very solid movie based on the comic book, Kingsman, which was under the radar and not many people heard about it. I liked its dark comedy, the characters and most likely, the over-the-top action that meshed well with the spy and comic-book genres that had a fresh edge to it. It is a bit disturbing at times and also some decisions were questionable, especially the ending, which I thought was a bit random but people say that it somewhat pays a kinky homage to the James Bond series in a way. Anyway, director Matthew Vaughn and company return to helm the sequel and even though the action sequences are stylized with such force and energy, the plot seemed so unfocused with the overbearing length that it loses track with the characters and sometimes its own plot.
In a fantastic opening sequence, Eggsy (Aaron Egerton) is approached by former Kingsman recruit Charlie (Edward Holcroft), who has gone rogue as they are fighting inside the cab. Charlie gets flown off as his mechanical arm gets ripped off but it manages to hack into the Kingsman's computer database. Eggsy makes it home to his girlfriend, the Swedish Princess Tilde (Hanna Alstrom), who seduced Eggsy late in the first movie. (You'll remember.) As Eggsy is set to meet Tilde's parents the next night, Eggsy asks his friend, Brandon, to watch his dog, JB.
The next day, Eggsy meets with the new Arthur (Michael Gambon) and Roxy (Sophie Cookson) to debrief on Charlie, as to how he lost the arm and how he lost his vocal cords after the events of the first movie. But, they observe the golden circle tattoo that he has on him as well, indicating that he is working for the organization, managed by billionaire drug lord, Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore). Meanwhile, later on, Poppy orchestrates an attack by launching missiles to Kingsman bases including its headquarters and other places involving his friends. Eggsy goes to the site of the Kingmsan headquarters being ruined and sees Merlin has survived the attack. As they both honor the fallen agents, they see a note labeling reading distilled in Kentucky, meaning they have to go to Kentucky where it bears the Kingsman logo.
Eggsy and Merlin arrive at a distillery where they are found by Agent Tequila (Channing Tatum). Thinking they are intruders, Tequila knocks both of them out. He interrogates them in another room and said that they are keeping agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth) in a room. Eggsy and Merlin are both stunned thinking that he was dead. (I am not spoiling this detail because it is shown in the trailer.) However, a woman named Ginger Ale (Halle Berry) pops in stating that both Eggsy's and Merlin's stories check out. So, they work together to take down the Golden Circle and Poppy.
This movie is overstuffed with such style that I got a bit tired and starting to get a headache after the movie was over. It was a little too much in-your-face action that it did not bother to take a breather to have some quieter moments with the characters. However, the subplot involving Eggsy and Harry had a weak execution that you had to try to attempt to care for Harry to see if he will get back in the game. Plus, there is a "romantic" scene in the movie where I felt like Vaughn's creative decision was questionable by slipping a tracking device into an ex-girlfriend's panties from a POV shot. I thought, really? Plus, it gets a little too late to get the villain's plan started as she plans to plants drugs all over the world with symptoms of a blue rash, dancing, falling into paralysis and then a horrible death. I found that similar to the villain's plot in the first Kingsman which I thought was more evil than this.
The cast is likable, I just wished that they gave some more time to the supporting characters played by Channing Tatum, Halle Berry and Jeff Bridges. The Statesman segments of the movie were so fascinating and interesting that it was too brief to actually to explore a new area of the story that we had to get back to the main plot which was not that interesting. Taron Egerton is still charming as a young agent who has matured somewhat and blends into the action well. Mark Strong is great and Colin Firth is great too but the way they used him was meandering. Pedro Pascal has a strong supporting role as a guy who tries to deceive you throughout the movie. And, Julianne Moore did a great job as the villainess but she disappears for a long chunk of the movie to give us some more memorability and prowess because it would feel like another movie at times.
Director Matthew Vaughn had something going on here but I'm afraid too much of his creative style set aside the elements that were energetic and fresh in the first movie. The action was great, the comedy was funny at times (the musical cameo in this movie is pretty awesome) and the tools to the movie were fine but what was lacking was an organized narrative that somehow made me have more fun and also balance it with another intelligent story. Like I said, the movie is unfocused as it rushes things with certain components that it mostly focuses on the least interesting aspect which was the villainess' plot because it was too little too late. I'd shave off about 20 minutes and then you would have gotten a solid 2-hour sequel that is more well-told with good amount of action and solid character development. Instead, it is overbearing, overstayed, under-focused and a bit underwhelming. It's a disappointment that could have gotten the potential to take this Kingsman franchise off.
**1/2
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