'Kingsman' Returns

After the unexpected box office smash hit of Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), director Matthew Vaughn has, to no great surprise, returned with a sequel to his most commercially successful film.

If anything like its predecessor, The Golden Circle was already expected to be a boldly colourful, extremely loud, and subtly witty attack on the senses throughout the 141-minute running time.

Opening Scene

Straight away, we return to familiar territory as the camera pans towards the Kingsman's main base of operation, fronted, of course, by the sublimely decorated tailor shop.

However, both are closed up for the night as Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, portrayed once again by Welsh actor Taron Egerton, makes his exit and securely locks up the premises.

But there is a ghost waiting for the former chav turned super spy.

Even if you watched the previous Kingsman film right before this one, you might be forgiven for forgetting Charlie Hesketh.

The former Kingsman recruit served as the school bully during Eggsy's training, and perhaps with the exception of their final confrontation, he was largely forgotten once he had failed to keep his mouth shut in an interrogation exercise.

Against the villainous Valentine (Samuel Jackson) and the silent but deadly, blade-footed Gazelle (Sofia Boutella), poor Charles never really gained much standing as a threat to the Kingsmen.

But now this seems to have all changed.

With a new buzz-cut do and atypical trio of jaguar cars full of henchmen to back him up, he is quick to force Eggsy at gunpoint into the agent's own black taxi.

Of course, the moment they are in a confined space so begins the insanely choreographed fight scenes which made the original such a smash hit.

Whilst most will argue that nothing will even beat THAT scene with Colin Firth shaking off his gentlemanly credentials entirely in a Kentucky church, it is perhaps an inventive way of reintroducing us to the unique style Vaughn seems to have made his own.

What perhaps is a revelation is that Charlie is not entirely all there. In the physical sense, that is. (Mentally, who knows?)

As he is almost kicked out of the taxi, we see a shot of his gloved hand scraping across the tarmac at a speed no ordinary taxi should be able to manage, especially in central London.

A cyborg, metal skeleton limb-worthy of i-Robot is exposed, and proves a challenging development even for our leading man.

Escaping onto the roof, and eventually being dragged behind on one of the doors gives us a sense of speeds only achievable, it seems, on the big screen.

But moving on, we see that Charlie is not just there merely for Eggsy as we see him at the controls of the taxi's built-in computer (which is surely connected to a secretive Kingsman exclusive server?).

The chase ends as suddenly as a rocket-propelled taxi hitting a concrete bollard and Charlie is predictably thrown clean through the windshield.

Rather amazingly, the battered car is still running and even is capable of shedding its old tires for Fiat 500-inspired racing wheels and suddenly the taxi is able to wheel spin sideways to avoid the surrounding Jaguars.

Rather conveniently, or perhaps just incompetently, they have left Eggsy with a perfectly-sized gap and entirely able to exit their vehicles to confront him after he had just incapacitated their boss.

Only when he is a considerable distance away do they resume their chase of him as Merlin (Mark Strong) makes his first appearance whilst remotely assisting Eggsy negotiate London's surprisingly quiet and traffic free streets.

As we reach Hyde Park, Eggsy dispatches his chasers with a trio of missiles fired though the roof of his cab, before reaching the banks of the River Thames.

Police in the movies always arrive much faster than is physically possible in real life, and now they are swiftly bearing down upon Eggsy.

His only way out? Why, to drive his taxi with no windshield into the river and underwater where, in the homage style of James Bond, the vehicle transforms into a submarine without so much of a sliver of oil being spilt.

The only difference is that Roger Moore would never dream of getting his flared trousers wet.

Returning Characters

What is refreshing to see is that all the main characters whom survived the first Kingsman film return to grace our screens once again despite the impressive line-up of new faces.

From Roxy (Sophie Cookson) and Crown Princess Tilde of Sweden (Hanna Alström) to JB the Pug dog, the old cast is back together... for all of ten minutes.

Much like George R. R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones, Matthew Vaughn is not afraid to wipe out several main characters in a matter of seconds.

Still, who needs dozens of highly trained secret agents and numerous treasured bases of operations when you have the dream team of Essy and Merlin?

Activating the Doomsday protocol, we are perhaps expecting to see something that will immediately give all the answers to the two stricken operatives.

Finding instead a bottle of Statesmen Kentucky Bourbon (times must be hard indeed), they opt instead to drown their sorrows and toast to everything and everyone. Stopping only when the undeniably Scottish Merlin tries to toast to his native land (political, perhaps?), we find a hidden clue which takes our boys to the land of the free, America.

Since Colin Firth tweeted his an image of Galahad's broken glasses, we have known in some way that Eggsy's mentor would return.

The heavily Americanised version of Kingsman, the Statesman have, it seems, been in the background this whole time and its having its HQ in Kentucky is surely no coincidence given that is where Harry was last seen with a bullet lodged firmly in his eye.

New Characters

Not only are we treated to a whole host of new allies such as Champ (Jeff Bridges) and Ginger Ale (Halle Berry), but we have a new All-American baddie in the form of Poppy (Julianne Moore).

No stranger to underlining scheming roles such as President Coin in the Hunger Games: Mockingjay 1 & 2, this time the advice is do not eat the burgers at her 50s nostalgia village tucked away atop a mountain deep in the Borneo rain-forest.

With a constant smile, a human-sized mincer and a pair of robotic Rottweilers at hand, who wouldn't shudder at the very thought of having dinner at Poppy's dinner?

The most surprising and hilarious appearance, however, is of Mr Elton John.

Yes, supposedly up for a cameo in the previous film, it seems that the world has completely ignored the face that the Rocket Man has been missing for the past twelve months.

Still, Elton certainly makes up for it and unleashes a deliciously p***ed off diva whom not only throws down some WWE worthy slam dunks, but proves that some singers can really act.

Overall Rating

Kingsman: The Secret Service was a surprising exhilarating ride of action, drama and good old fashioned gentlemanly values.

The Golden Circle brought all of this back along with much loved characters whom are able to make you cry, laugh, root for an occasionally say to "yes, you are bat s**t crazy!"

What was so lovely to see was a complete continuation of everything we loved about the first film, and added to the world Kingsman inhabits as it travels across the globe.

However, a sole disappointment lies in the amount of screen time both returning and new cast members do receive.

Matthew Vaughn does not hold back on his tongue-in-cheek approach, and believe me there are some pretty racy moments! But the general use of cursing and dry humour only makes it so much more real amongst the hyped-up fights and world-dominating plots that would otherwise seem completely farfetched to the point of ridicule.

But in Kingsman, it kinda just works.