145.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
8/10
The second instalment of the spy/comedy franchise revolving around a group in the UK called The Kingsman. I enjoyed the first movie, for its humour and action sequences but was very disappointed with the way that it glorified 'The Sun' newspaper. this movie had a really strong cast and with the first trailer, it looked like the British were against the Americans, but after the second, we could see that they were actually working together. With a little less Samuel L. Jackson, I think I'm going to enjoy this more than the first. Will this have the suave or will it be simple mutton dressed as lamb?
A year has passed since the last one was set and Eggsy, played by Taron Egerton, has taken the codename of his late mentor, Galahad. He's living with the Princess of Sweden and straight away, we are thrust into an action scene that leaves us on the edge of our seats. Eggsy battles an ex-recruit from the Kingman who lost an arm in the first movie, along with him voice box. The scene consists of music and slow-motion action, switching to fast paced to create a great fight scene, along with a car chase through the centre of London. The fight comes to an end, as Charlie loses him arm again, but it is controlled from somewhere else and hacks into Eggsy's car, gaining information on all of the safe houses and each agent. Whilst Eggsy is away, meeting his future in-laws, through his glasses, he sees that each of the safe houses, headquarters and home address is wiped out by bombs. Amongst the dead are the leader of the Kingsman, a female agent, Eggsy's pug and one of his friends, who was dog sitting for him. We are already aware that he has kept his true identity away from his friends.
Only Eggsy and Merlin, the gadget maker and intel expert for the Kingsman, are left alive and follow protocol which takes them to the Statesman, the same kind of outfit, but in America. These ones use the disguise of a Whiskey distillery. Each one is named after an alcoholic beverage and after an encounter, where the two are bettered by Channing Tatum's character, Tequila. They're then taken to a room for questioning and a secret, two-way mirror is revealed and behind it is Harry, Colin Firth, who was believed to have died in the first movie. Now, the only way that you didn't know that this was coming was if you hadn't have seen any of the trailers for this movie. This kind of spoiled the surprise. It turns out that the shot to the head has given him amnesia, he knows nothing about his job, or the other agents. Back in the boardroom and Eggsy, along with Merlin are briefed on a drug cartel called, The Golden Circle. Their new plan, is to stop the distribution, but when Tequila comes down with a strange blue rash, Whiskey is put in to partner Eggsy. Whiskey is played by the same guy who played the Red Viper in Game of Thrones. A cool actor in my opinion. It turns out that Charlie is working with the Golden Circle and is still in touch with his ex-girlfriend, whom the pair track down to Glastonbury.
The Golden Circle is run by Julianne Moore, and her acting in this comes across as a soft but violent approach. She gets someone to feed their own friend into a meat mincer, and then serves him as a burger, with nothing but a smile on her face. She owns two robot dogs and lives in a forest, out of reach. Her name is Poppy Adams and broadcasts a message around the world, that her drugs contain a lethal toxin, that will kill every user unless her drugs become legal, to which she will then give the antidote. At the festival, the pair have tracked down the ex-girlfriend and Whiskey attempts to make contact first, before showing how it's done by Eggsy. He takes her back to her tent, where he places a tracker inside her in a pretty sexual turn of events, as the camera too, travels inside. Not a scene for the youngsters. He immediately feels guilty though, and calls the Princess, who doesn't take things well. She leaves, to head home and starts smoking some weed. Some of the humour from this movie, comes in the form of Elton John. He plays himself, captured by Poppy, for her own personal music gigs. He's part of the experiment, to show that the antidote works once someone has taken the toxin. The President of the United States takes Poppy's treat as a good thing. He can round up all of the drug takers, in order to win the war on drugs. Then Poppy will think that he is giving in to demands, only to have her fail, when she doesn't have anyone left to buy her drugs anyway.
After many failed attempts to sort Harry out, Eggsy triggers his memories back through a traumatic event, which is the shooting of his dog, spoken about in the first movie. Once he is back on board, the pair and Whiskey, use the tracker planted inside the girl, to find a facility that stores in antidote in the mountains of Italy. They get in and out with a sample but are ambushed by some Golden Circle guards and Whiskey drops it, smashing it on a stone floor. Harry thinks that this guy is playing both sides, so shoots him in the head, obviously. Eggsy can't stand up for him and everything thinks he isn't back to his usual self. The Princess finally rings him and we see that she has the blue rash too, Tequila is also put into incubation by the Statesman version of Merlin, played by Halle Berry. This all gives Eggsy some more incentive to finish this mission. He travels to 'Poppy Land' and before he can get to the gate, steps on a landmine. Merlin has finally made it into the field and freezes the mine before pushing Eggsy off it and taking his place. He begins to sing 'Take me home, Country Road' to divert the attention of the guards so that they come closer and sacrifices himself to take some enemies with him. This turns out to be a strong start to a great scene as Elton John hears the explosion and thinks it's a rescue mission. He is singing 'Saturday Night's Alright (for fighting)' but uses the actual day, which is Wednesday. Quite cool as it was the Wednesday that it was released and I was viewing it on the day too. He kicks the guard's asses himself and makes it outside, with the scene flipping back to Eggsy and Harry fighting everyone else outside. The music accompanies all of this very well. Eggsy turns his attention to Charlie, as Harry and Elton finish off the robot dogs. The make their way to Poppy an inject her with a high dose, leaving her high as a kite and giving away her password to release the antidote.
Just as the end is near, Whiskey shows back up. He's been treated for his head wound, just like Harry was and instantly received the traumatic wake up call to bring him back on board. He wants the drug takers to die too. It will lead to more drinkers, so the Statesman stocks will rise but the main reason would be to avenge the deaths of his wife and child by the hands of a drug taker. The battle ensues and is yet another great one. Slow motion, different weapons, more music and an ending that results in the meat-grinder again. The antidote I finally released to everyone and I'm pretty sure that the Principality Stadium is where everyone is being held, although they make it look like it's in America. The President is arrested for attempted genocide, the Statesman announces that it has bought a distillery in Scotland and Ginger Ale, Halle Berry, takes over the handle of Whiskey. Eggsy ends up marrying the Princess and the movie ends with a well-dressed Tequila moving to London to work for the Kingsman.
This film was very enjoyable and had a bit of everything to appeal to most. Between the humour and the action, this sometimes over the top, spy film knows exactly what it is trying to be and you need to know what your letting yourself in for before paying the money. I didn't expect Elton John to be in it, yet alone have such a strong role at times and be as funny as he was. The trailer did show a little too much and I would have preferred that the reveal of Harry, Colin Firth's character, be left out of it altogether, it would have been a good surprise. I even enjoyed the female villain compared to the first film, but maybe that's because I dislike Samuel L. Jackson so much. Unfortunately, we had to see 'the Sun' newspaper on show again, for no reason what so ever. As for the techniques used, the slow-motion, to speeding up of fight scenes and multiple angles, helped to add an extra dimension to each scene. Never take a movie like this too seriously and I'm excited to see where we go next.
After many failed attempts to sort Harry out, Eggsy triggers his memories back through a traumatic event, which is the shooting of his dog, spoken about in the first movie. Once he is back on board, the pair and Whiskey, use the tracker planted inside the girl, to find a facility that stores in antidote in the mountains of Italy. They get in and out with a sample but are ambushed by some Golden Circle guards and Whiskey drops it, smashing it on a stone floor. Harry thinks that this guy is playing both sides, so shoots him in the head, obviously. Eggsy can't stand up for him and everything thinks he isn't back to his usual self. The Princess finally rings him and we see that she has the blue rash too, Tequila is also put into incubation by the Statesman version of Merlin, played by Halle Berry. This all gives Eggsy some more incentive to finish this mission. He travels to 'Poppy Land' and before he can get to the gate, steps on a landmine. Merlin has finally made it into the field and freezes the mine before pushing Eggsy off it and taking his place. He begins to sing 'Take me home, Country Road' to divert the attention of the guards so that they come closer and sacrifices himself to take some enemies with him. This turns out to be a strong start to a great scene as Elton John hears the explosion and thinks it's a rescue mission. He is singing 'Saturday Night's Alright (for fighting)' but uses the actual day, which is Wednesday. Quite cool as it was the Wednesday that it was released and I was viewing it on the day too. He kicks the guard's asses himself and makes it outside, with the scene flipping back to Eggsy and Harry fighting everyone else outside. The music accompanies all of this very well. Eggsy turns his attention to Charlie, as Harry and Elton finish off the robot dogs. The make their way to Poppy an inject her with a high dose, leaving her high as a kite and giving away her password to release the antidote.
Just as the end is near, Whiskey shows back up. He's been treated for his head wound, just like Harry was and instantly received the traumatic wake up call to bring him back on board. He wants the drug takers to die too. It will lead to more drinkers, so the Statesman stocks will rise but the main reason would be to avenge the deaths of his wife and child by the hands of a drug taker. The battle ensues and is yet another great one. Slow motion, different weapons, more music and an ending that results in the meat-grinder again. The antidote I finally released to everyone and I'm pretty sure that the Principality Stadium is where everyone is being held, although they make it look like it's in America. The President is arrested for attempted genocide, the Statesman announces that it has bought a distillery in Scotland and Ginger Ale, Halle Berry, takes over the handle of Whiskey. Eggsy ends up marrying the Princess and the movie ends with a well-dressed Tequila moving to London to work for the Kingsman.
This film was very enjoyable and had a bit of everything to appeal to most. Between the humour and the action, this sometimes over the top, spy film knows exactly what it is trying to be and you need to know what your letting yourself in for before paying the money. I didn't expect Elton John to be in it, yet alone have such a strong role at times and be as funny as he was. The trailer did show a little too much and I would have preferred that the reveal of Harry, Colin Firth's character, be left out of it altogether, it would have been a good surprise. I even enjoyed the female villain compared to the first film, but maybe that's because I dislike Samuel L. Jackson so much. Unfortunately, we had to see 'the Sun' newspaper on show again, for no reason what so ever. As for the techniques used, the slow-motion, to speeding up of fight scenes and multiple angles, helped to add an extra dimension to each scene. Never take a movie like this too seriously and I'm excited to see where we go next.
No comments:
Post a Comment