Wednesday Night’s Alright For Fighting

Let’s get right to it- opening up we get a crazy car chase scene, filled to the brim with action, witty banter, and good old fashioned violence. Interested?

Eggsy makes a return to proper fashion with Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle. And if you enjoyed the first Kingsman movie(raising my hand here), and want to see how The Golden Circle holds up(hopefully you raising your hand here), and enjoy constant Elton John song references(me raising your hand for you), then keep reading!

Alright, alright, I won’t push the Elton John references, but this movie does, and it is great. Unlike my spoiler free game reviews, there will be some, but not major spoilers for this review. Including the first Kingsman movie. You know what time it is, it’s time for the-

!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This will contain minor spoilers for both Kingsman and Kingsman 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem. Manners, maketh, man. That’s what Harry taught Eggsy before heading off to Kentucky and getting himself a bullet to the brain. Now we see Eggsy around a year later, and even while dealing with so much loss in his life, he tries to keep on the up and up. Still a secret agent of the Kingsman, Eggsy Unwin(played by Taron Egerton) gets to save the world on a regular basis, not unlike another certain British agent who works for MI6. That would make for a great crossover, but we’ll discuss that another time. We see some familiar faces, as reprising roles return, including Hannah Alstrom as Swedish Princess Tilde, Mark Strong as Merlin, Sophie Cookson as Roxy, and more. The back and forth feels familiar here, and will definitely put a smile on your face if you have invested your time by watching the first movie. With a new movie comes new faces though, and most are a great addition.

The face of our new villain is actress Julianne Moore, who plays Poppy, a happy-go-lucky sort of mother figure in the drug business. Psychopath is maybe being a bit too nice here. But she will gladly don an apron and serve you up a piping hot burger in her 1950’s style diner. Or make you kill a friend. Or make you eat said friend via a manburger from her diner. Yes, this movie is already shaping up to be just as crazy as the first. So while Poppy has plans that will drive the plot, she first deals with the Kingsman. Information gets hacked, missiles get launched, and the Kingsman are reduced to a small number, with no base to speak of. Just like that. Yeah, we could have gotten a bit more screen time for the fallout, but how can you complain when you are seeing a man eat his best friend on a golden fried bun? I’m not looking for the perfect movie here, I want to be entertained. I’ve heard whiskey usually helps in that department.

And whiskey is exactly what Eggsy and Merlin find, in the doomsday scenario safe that was a protocol carried out, well, for a doomsday scenario. Traveling to Kentucky, Eggsy and Merlin go to the Statesmen distillery, which we come to find out is the United States version of the Kingsman, but with more twang and Channing Tatum. Codename Tequila, Channing Tatum is rough around the edges, but easily handles Merlin and Eggsy in a fight. We don’t get to see much of Tequila in the film, but does an okay job while he is there. We round out Statesman with Halle Berry-Ginger, Pedro Pascal-Whiskey, and Jeff Bridges(yes!)-Champagne, or Champ for short. Champ grants the Kingsman access to their facilities and funds, so Eggsy can follow a lead involving who wiped out the Kingsman.

Statesman also have incredible medical technology thanks to Ginger, and we see Colin Firth reprising his role as Harry stumbling around in a room with one less eye. Harry has amnesia, and a sub plot involves Eggsy and Merlin trying to get him to remember everything. Poppy decides to unveil her master plan, which of course involves drugs that could wipe out a large portion of the world. Nothing new here, just another scheme on a global level, but Julianne Moore shines so well when she is on the screen! Plus the terms set by Poppy are simple and funny enough to keep the ball rolling, involving the U.S. President to make a tough decision. So what happens to Harry? Well, I can’t spoil everything, but I do feel with all this crazy robot and nanobot tech running around, someone could get him a new eye.

So we have a new cast, a new plot, Harry is somewhat alive, and Eggsy traveling the globe with Whiskey and others to stop Poppy. What are we missing? Action. Kingsman 2 follows an insane ride filled with bullets, bombs, laser whips, robot dogs, and much more. The opening car chase had some- what am I watching?- shaky camera scenes, but outside of that, it has some great set pieces, and head popping violence to boot. There is much more I’d like to talk about, but why ruin the whole movie? I left surprises in there, as well as some faces that will have you yelling at the screen while cheering them on. So while it wasn’t the perfect movie, it was a sequel that didn’t stray to far from the original, and I am okay with that. Plus if you save the world, you will get, well, watch the first movie. Or get backstage passes.