3.5 stars. Rated R, for strong violence, frequent profanity, drug content and sexual candor
By Derrick Bang
This is the guiltiest of guilty
pleasures.
Director Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle is just as
hyperkinetically loopy as its 2014 predecessor, and I mean that in the best
possible way. Both films are deranged riffs on the 1960s spy craze: from the
colorfully mod sets to the manic gadgets and weapons. Think Our Man Flint or The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ... on steroids.
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| Waitaminute ... isn't he dead? Having tracked the nefarious Golden Circle's drug-dealing enterprise to a huge lab concealed beneath a mountain ski chalet, Eggsy (Taron Egerton, left), Galahad (Colin Firth, center) and Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) plan their assault. |
The Kingsman films are over the top in all respects, which includes
frequent profanity and outrageous dollops of violence, the latter guaranteed to
whiten the faces of sensitive viewers. (Consider this ample warning.)
But none of this should be taken
seriously. These are comic book-style comedies, even if Vaughn and co-scripter
Jane Goldman repeatedly crash the boundaries of good taste. Actually, this
sequel is more palatable in one key respect: It lacks the first film’s vulgar
sexuality, which is a blessed relief.
On the other hand, this second
outing does suffer from bloat. At 141 minutes, Vaughn and Goldman overstay
their welcome by at least one frenzied action sequence. Too much of anything becomes tedious.
Following a brilliantly
choreographed, pedal-to-the-metal prologue that nearly claims the life of
Savile Row-garbed Kingsman agent Eggsy (Taron Egerton), Vaughn and Goldman kick
this second global adventure into even higher gear, with an unexpectedly
vicious housecleaning: a purge reminiscent of how 1996’s first big-screen Mission: Impossible began. When the dust
settles, only Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong), the organization’s fastidious
Scottish tech guru, are left standing.
Forced to activate their
organization’s emergency “Doomsday Protocol,” Eggsy and Merlin are guided to
the plains of Kentucky, and the massive Statesman bourbon distillery: actually
a front for an even more massive compatriot
spy organization that clandestinely protects the civilized world. In its own,
inimitably American fashion.
2014’s Kingsman milked considerable humor from the class divide that
initially separated Eggsy — introduced as a wayward, uncouth, working-class
bloke — from Harry Hart/Galahad (Colin Firth), the seasoned operative who
brought the young man into the fold. This film does the same, with even funnier
results, as the now-suave Eggsy and (always suave) Merlin confront their
rougher, gruffer American counterparts.
Kentucky is cowboy country, and
everything about Statesman adheres to that model, starting with boots,
pronounced drawls and plenty of denim. The primary Statesman field agents are
Tequila (Channing Tatum) and Whiskey (Pedro Pascal); their tech guru — Merlin’s
counterpart — is Ginger Ale (Halle Berry).
As for the group’s leader, who
else but Jeff Bridges would be cast
as Champagne? He has a great time sending up his various cowboy roles, down to
little gestures such as Champ’s habit of wiping his mustache with a finger
moistened in bourbon.
