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Kingsman: The Golden Circle Review Thread

Movie seemed pro-decriminalization and against the use of hard stuff. Plenty of drugs are extremely bad and Poppy wasn’t just dealing in weed so it seems like a pretty fair stance to take. If you thought this was hardline anti-drug users then you’re stunningly misreading the film.

Eh, the film sort of put weed, coke and heroin all on the same level. I mean, we have no idea was drugs
Tequila
was on. It was just more, "yeah, he takes ... something, but he's a nice guy.

Good on them to bring up the topic, a little murky on the execution.
 
Saw this Sunday. I actually enjoyed it. The action sequences were as great as ever, and the reasoning for bringing back Firth's character wasn't as absurd as I thought it was gonna be. Not as good as the first, a bit too overstuffed and long, but a solid enough follow-up nonetheless. Hope it makes over 100m domestically, I wouldn't mind another installment.
 

B-Dex

Member
Saw it tonight. It was over the top crazy action and campy fun. Great entertainment.

Taron needed more topless time though.
 

Krev

Unconfirmed Member
Some animators have literally said in this thread that they worked on a scene where a legless Mark Strong crawls into the diner at the end of the movie because his suit is "armor" or something.

It's silly and kind of sucks, but it's fact.
The animator said it was put in because test audiences were sad about
Merlin dying
. Isn't it supposed to bed sad? That means the movie was working. It should never have been added and was justly cut.
Movie seemed pro-decriminalization and against the use of hard stuff. Plenty of drugs are extremely bad and Poppy wasn’t just dealing in weed so it seems like a pretty fair stance to take. If you thought this was hardline anti-drug users then you’re stunningly misreading the film.
Not at all. The movie makes the distinction that hardline war on drugs = bad, killing drug users = bad, and some people actually need drugs. But the villain speaks left wing pro-legalisation talking points ("taxed and regulated") and everyone who uses drugs recreationally (even just weed) is told off for it and comes to accept the error of their ways.
 

ZeroX03

Banned
Not at all. The movie makes the distinction that hardline war on drugs = bad, killing drug users = bad, and some people actually need drugs. But the villain speaks left wing pro-legalisation talking points ("taxed and regulated") and everyone who uses drugs recreationally (even just weed) is told off for it and comes to accept the error of their ways.

And? Seems fine to me. The movie was very fucking clear we shouldn't kill or punish drug users, but not supporting drug use is a fine angle to take.
 

Dark_castle

Junior Member
I haven't seen this yet but I got a haircut over the weekend and the hairstylist asked if I had any weekend plans, I said no, and then he suggested I see the new Kingsman movie. I asked if it was good as the first one and he just sighed and went "nah, man."

He did a complete 180 on it within two sentences.

Just watch it if you have nothing planned out, especially if you liked the first one. It's got a lot of issues, but still has fun action scenes.
 

Krev

Unconfirmed Member
And? Seems fine to me. The movie was very fucking clear we shouldn't kill or punish drug users, but not supporting drug use is a fine angle to take.
Drink instead of smoking weed is a pretty reactionary and stupid angle to me, but we may differ on this.
 

IISANDERII

Member
The first movie was filled with British tropes and iconography. The second with American ones. It's deliberate.
Of course it's deliberate. But they didn't just kill off nearly all the British characters and the Kingsman secret service just to fill the second film with American "tropes and iconography".
 

Mr Swine

Banned
I’m debating if I should go and watch the movie or not. I liked the first one, is the second one as good or good enough for those who have seen both?
 

IISANDERII

Member
I’m debating if I should go and watch the movie or not. I liked the first one, is the second one as good or good enough for those who have seen both?
I felt like I wasted my evening going to watch it, especially since how long it is. The original is light years better.
 
Other than the rather disturbing implications surrounding
Vagina tracker and the woman being blown up for cheating
and a bit of fumbling with the message of "don't do the leaf kids, stick to hardcore whiskey and beer (which has killed millions more than the herb ever will)", I rather enjoyed the movie. Like, the overall message of "Drug addicts, drug dependent, etc. are humans and deserve to be treated with dignity" was great, it's just the messaging is a bit muddled when they end up saying "Just stick to good old whiskey". Other than that: Fantastic action, fun performances, entirely bat shit feeling overall. Good fun.

On another note:
I can't wait to see how they will inevitably bring Merlin back
 

Certinty

Member
Thought it was great. Was never going to be as good as the first but was still fun as hell.

Only issue I had was
them killing Whiskey the way they did in the end. Given his reasons for going against them he didn't deserved to be killed I say, especially not like that at the very worst. Also after it the Statesman don't seem to care at all?
 
I don't understand why it was so long. I don't revere the first one, but it was more fun than this. Very discombobulated.

The vaginal tracker gets a big eye roll for me. The stadium full of cages was a striking visual.
 
The more I think about this movie, the less I like it.

I still can't get over just how fucking poorly it treats every woman in it.

edit: And yes, I loved the first one, save the final scene.
 
The more I think about this movie, the less I like it.

I still can't get over just how fucking poorly it treats every woman in it.

edit: And yes, I loved the first one, save the final scene.

What woman does it treat poorly?

The presidents advisor was on the right side of the genocide debate and helped ensure a smooth transition of power and is a huge public figure.

Poppy is the head of the antagonist group and one of the richest people in the world, as well as feared by all below her.

Eggsy's princess girlfriend is fine...? I mean she doesn't do much.

The statesmen woman with the alcohol name (I can't remember) gets a promotion at the end.

Who else is there?
 

squall23

Member
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I just wish
Channing Tatum was in it more and that Whiskey didn't go rogue. I hate when movies make the cool kickass older guy as a villain.
 
What woman does it treat poorly?

The presidents advisor was on the right side of the genocide debate and helped ensure a smooth transition of power and is a huge public figure.

Poppy is the head of the antagonist group and one of the richest people in the world, as well as feared by all below her.

Eggsy's princess girlfriend is fine...? I mean she doesn't do much.

The statesmen woman with the alcohol name (I can't remember) gets a promotion at the end.

Who else is there?

I think mainly the girl who gets finger GPSed then blown up for cheating
 
What woman does it treat poorly?

The presidents advisor was on the right side of the genocide debate and helped ensure a smooth transition of power and is a huge public figure.

Poppy is the head of the antagonist group and one of the richest people in the world, as well as feared by all below her.

Eggsy's princess girlfriend is fine...? I mean she doesn't do much.

The statesmen woman with the alcohol name (I can't remember) gets a promotion at the end.

Who else is there?

Princess Hilde basically just exists to be "girl that must be rescued" again,
along with having an obnoxious "mad about him having to do dumb sex thing for a mission"
plotline.

Douchey villain guy's girlfriend exists just for the incredibly uncomfortable aforementioned sex thing, and then to be summarily blown up.

Lancelot gets basically nothing to do (again) and then dies.
 

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
I actually thought the girlfriend bit was a bit cute, since it's such a play on the Bond trope. Him in a relationship? Him
asking for permission
, them fighting, etc. It's like everything Bond isn't for a film that is heavily parodying Bond.

I'll agree with the rest though
 
Princess Hilde basically just exists to be "girl that must be rescued" again,
along with having an obnoxious "mad about him having to do dumb sex thing for a mission"
plotline.

Douchey villain guy's girlfriend exists just for the incredibly uncomfortable aforementioned sex thing, and then to be summarily blown up.

Lancelot gets basically nothing to do (again) and then dies.


My interest in the franchise basically died with Lancelot. There legit isn't a single interesting female character left in the Kingsman universe by the end of Golden Circle. They're all dead except the Princess, and I don't have much interest in watching her be damsel-ed for a 3rd time.
 

Popsickles

Member
I enjoyed it, just as good as the first with some great action. People that are complaining about drug and feminist stuff have missed the point of the film. It's just stupid fun
 

Krev

Unconfirmed Member
I enjoyed it, just as good as the first with some great action. People that are complaining about drug and feminist stuff have missed the point of the film. It's just stupid fun
No, it's stupid fun that carries with it morals and ideology, like all narratives do.
 

Triz

Member
Saw it today: Not as good as the first but not a bad movie. Hard to surpass the church scene, and I was hoping it would.
 
I’m debating if I should go and watch the movie or not. I liked the first one, is the second one as good or good enough for those who have seen both?

I just saw it tonight. Didn't like it nearly as much as the first but I wouldn't wave anyone off of it. I didn't hate it but I also didn't love it. I have no rush to see it again.
 
For what it's worth, regarding the subject of
Roxy's death
...

Since Kingsman 3 was evidently already being discussed during this production (According to interviews with Vaughn), and
the peculiar way they had Roxy run out of the room before the explosion (As opposed to Eggsy's friend and Michael Gambon, who just faced the explosion head on), I think it's very likely they were giving themselves an out for the third movie. Like it turns out she ran into the hall and jumped into some crazy Kingsman protective armor or something. I know the mansion was obliterated, but whatever--Harry got shot point blank in the brain.

I looked up the actress's Wikipedia page and it looks like she was filming some TV show around the same time as The Golden Circle was in production. I don't think they had any strong desire to kill her off.
It'd be lame to
do the resurrection trick twice in a row
, but I don't think it's below this series at all.
 

kirblar

Member
For what it's worth, regarding the subject of
Roxy's death
...

Since Kingsman 3 was evidently already being discussed during this production (According to interviews with Vaughn), and
the peculiar way they had Roxy run out of the room before the explosion (As opposed to Eggsy's friend and Michael Gambon, who just faced the explosion head on), I think it's very likely they were giving themselves an out for the third movie. Like it turns out she ran into the hall and jumped into some crazy Kingsman protective armor or something. I know the mansion was obliterated, but whatever--Harry got shot point blank in the brain.

I looked up the actress's Wikipedia page and it looks like she was filming some TV show around the same time as The Golden Circle was in production. I don't think they had any strong desire to kill her off.
It'd be lame to
do the resurrection trick twice in a row
, but I don't think it's below this series at all.
If it was a scheduling issue I wonder if
the original draft for this had Roxy in Merlin's place. (and probably not dying in the final siege like he does.) That Merlin/Ginger convo would make a lot more sense if Roxy's there filling in for a dead Merlin and Ginger doesn't realize she's a full agent.
 
As someone who just liked the original I was shocked how much I loved this film. There were some lulls in the 2nd act but the 3rd was such inspired lunacy, can't wait to see a third instalment.
 

Dice//

Banned
Had a lot of fun.

There's issues, but I feel I can't complain about them without bringing down a series that seems to fundamentally exist to make fun of James Bond and other secret-agent action nonsense.

Totally worth the watch, let your mind go and it's a great comedy/action flick. :)
 

Cth

Member
This was just ugh.

Like... What the hell happened. The first movie was so much fun and this wasn't.

Pretty much that.

The first one is a heroic journey about a kid growing and having fun along the way. This one was the Empire Strikes Back moment -- agency blown up, girlfriend trouble,
friends dying, etc. There's no carefree fun moments in comparison to the first. Take the seduction scene for example, the first film had a fun competition, here it was inevitable and cynical especially given that he had to ask for permission/feel guilty about it.

That's just my take on it though. I liked it,
but it could have benefited from some extra humor. That ski lodge line killed my audience :D
 

Ridli

Member
Just saw the movie today. Disappointed, it’s just a average sequel to a superb action original.

Cameo spoiler -
Elton John jump kicking a henchman was funny
but didn’t justify the rest of the cameo.
 
Oh man, I absolutely HATED this movie. What a horrible script. So many bad plot points and poorly written scenes, and the overall narrative is so goddamn clumsy.

The first was not without it's problems but it accomplished being a fun R-rated action movie with some fresh action sequences, memorable characters and decent dialogue. I managed to like it quite a bit.

The sequel does absolutely nothing new at all and only weakly emulates the successful scenes from the first movie.

Other than the
full ten-fifteen minutes the movie spends on a subplot so horrible you'd think it came out of an 80's perv comedy where they for some contrived reason need to jam a tracking device up a girl's pussy, I think the point where it really made me roll my eyes was Merlin's death scene.

The movie has Merlin get geared up in a brand new suit, ready to take action in the field. They even HAVE A GODDAMN MINESWEEPER which is also fashioned as a baseball bat because lol America. But no, they still step on a goddamn mine anyways in the dumbest way possible. Oh but wait, it's ok! I conveniently have this can of magical ice spray that allows me to tragically and selflessly sacrifice myself for the main character by stepping on it. Because I mean, why would I bring something that could actually defuse the mine instead?

But wait, that's not dumb enough. I'm going to stand on this mine and sing Country Road while a guard slowly approaches me even though he knows there are landmines all over the fucking place here. Then, even though I straight up headbutted that dude, the rest of the guards are all going to approach me very slowly despite the fact that they have guns, know I'm dangerous and AGAIN know that there are landmines around the perimeter even though it is also established earlier that they can turn them off.

The movie was so full of absolutely ridiculous setups like that.

And what about the action? There really aren't that many action scenes in this movie.

From what I can recall -

1.) The car chase at the start, easily the best action in the movie but not even half as good as the church scene from the first.

2.) The bar fight. A tired retread of the exact same scene from the first movie.

3.) The ski lift/cabin scene. The mountain sequence where the heroes are sliding down an icy cliff and just barely survive has been done so many times and it brought nothing new to the table. The fight where Whiskey killed the strike team was ok, but we just saw Whiskey take on a group of assailants not long ago so it felt repetitive.

4.) The jungle compound raid. Now there were a few small flourishes of creativity here but overall it was again just the same moves and shots from the end of the first movie.

Also didn't care for the oppressive amount of Elton John cameos. It was a good idea but they did not pull it off well. John can't act and it really, really shows. I also didn't like the cheap fourth-wall breaking during his fight scene.

Between those problems and all the boring, trivial drama they tried to inject into this movie which ended up bloating it hard, it was so disappointing.
 

Jokab

Member
I loved how the final fight scene was a fake one shot scene - I suppose they did clever cuts behind the meat grinder. In general I absolutely love the camera style for the action scenes, you really feel the momentum.
 

NimbusD

Member
I thought this was super fun! I guess I'm not bothered that it's 'lesser' than the first because the first only was ever a fun action movie. It wasn't anything mind blowing. Same with his. Just some solid fun.
 
Just saw the movie today. Disappointed, it’s just a average sequel to a superb action original.

Cameo spoiler -
Elton John jump kicking a henchman was funny
but didn’t justify the rest of the cameo.

Okay, that wasn't a cameo, dude's name is on the poster. He's got more screentime than Jeff Bridges.
 

Kinyou

Member
I guess what disappointed me a bit is how
Channing Tatum was literally put on ice for most of the movie and how Poppy's henchmen felt rather smalltime compared to Samuel Jackson's army. I was surprised that those two robot dogs were her final line of defense. Overall the finale wasn't quite as spectacular as in the first one. Poppy herself was a pretty great villain though

And you know,
leading the heroes to a secret base of an organization that is introduced by feeding a guy conscious to a meat grinder for fucking up.
Yeah,
don't think at all that this was meant as punishment for cheating. Charlie didn't seem particularly happy about pressing the button but he knew he'd end up as a burger if he didn't
 
I guess what disappointed me a bit is how
Channing Tatum was literally put on ice for most of the movie and how Poppy's henchmen felt rather smalltime compared to Samuel Jackson's army. I was surprised that those two robot dogs were her final line of defense. Overall the finale wasn't quite as spectacular as in the first one. Poppy herself was a pretty great villain though


Yeah,
don't think at all that this was meant as punishment for cheating. Charlie didn't seem particularly happy about pressing the button but he knew he'd end up as a burger if he didn't

Oh, he definitely seemed happy about it. Also, wasn't she introduced as his ex?
 

Kinyou

Member
Oh, he definitely seemed happy about it. Also, wasn't she introduced as his ex?
I believe as ex but they had still something going on.

And
if I recall correctly did he tell her that everything would be all right. Wouldn't he gloat if he was punishing her?
 

War Peaceman

You're a big guy.
the vagina tracker thing was the funniest scene in the film. it was a very effective parody of james bond always sleeping with the women.

Elton John was bad. The idea was great, but should have stayed as him just being hired to perform for Poppy in a singular scene.

The whole thing was just really oddly put together and lacked the focus of the first film.
 
Eh, the film sort of put weed, coke and heroin all on the same level. I mean, we have no idea was drugs
Tequila
was on. It was just more, "yeah, he takes ... something, but he's a nice guy.

Good on them to bring up the topic, a little murky on the execution.

it doesn't matter what drug he's on.

I'm debating if I should go and watch the movie or not. I liked the first one, is the second one as good or good enough for those who have seen both?

I had a blast with both. I thought this was entertaining and laughed heaps. Don't overthink it. Go watch it. Fun movie

Had a lot of fun.

There's issues, but I feel I can't complain about them without bringing down a series that seems to fundamentally exist to make fun of James Bond and other secret-agent action nonsense.

Totally worth the watch, let your mind go and it's a great comedy/action flick. :)

yes this.

For what it's worth, regarding the subject of
Roxy's death
...

Since Kingsman 3 was evidently already being discussed during this production (According to interviews with Vaughn), and
the peculiar way they had Roxy run out of the room before the explosion (As opposed to Eggsy's friend and Michael Gambon, who just faced the explosion head on), I think it's very likely they were giving themselves an out for the third movie. Like it turns out she ran into the hall and jumped into some crazy Kingsman protective armor or something. I know the mansion was obliterated, but whatever--Harry got shot point blank in the brain.

I looked up the actress's Wikipedia page and it looks like she was filming some TV show around the same time as The Golden Circle was in production. I don't think they had any strong desire to kill her off.
It'd be lame to
do the resurrection trick twice in a row
, but I don't think it's below this series at all.

The way that castle collapsed, I doubt she survived. They're more likely to bring back Mark Strong



I guess what disappointed me a bit is how
Channing Tatum was literally put on ice for most of the movie and how Poppy's henchmen felt rather smalltime compared to Samuel Jackson's army. I was surprised that those two robot dogs were her final line of defense. Overall the finale wasn't quite as spectacular as in the first one. Poppy herself was a pretty great villain though


Yeah,
don't think at all that this was meant as punishment for cheating. Charlie didn't seem particularly happy about pressing the button but he knew he'd end up as a burger if he didn't

does it matter? I heard so many complaints about his screentime but really had no issues with it.

as for
her army - no one knows where she is - so its not like she needs lot of people to protect her; she did kill the statesman in her mind + mines
 
the vagina tracker thing was the funniest scene in the film. it was a very effective parody of james bond always sleeping with the women.

Elton John was bad. The idea was great, but should have stayed as him just being hired to perform for Poppy in a singular scene.

The whole thing was just really oddly put together and lacked the focus of the first film.


Elton John's line deliveries were totally fucked up. It was like he only agreed to one take of every scene or something. I was surprised they left so much of it in.
 

- J - D -

Member
This is a bad follow up to the first Kingsman in almost every way. I legitimately can't think of one thing in here that improves upon the original.

It also wastes all the completely new elements, like Tatum, Pascal, Moore, Bridges, Berry, etc.

Bleh.
 

PAULINK

I microwave steaks.
this movie fucking killed it for me, I would almost say it's better than the original. Vaughn hit it out of the park. All the actors did a tremendous job.

though the ending made me sad :(
why did whiskey have to turn heel :(((
 
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