The primary sin of the Kingsman sequel is this: It begins to take itself too seriously.
Like its predecessor, this film knows how to have fun. It's all light and silly and happy, and you could do a lot worse for a late-summer escapade. I won't waste your time with a synopsis, because who really cares what happens in these movies? But there are a few highlights that demonstrate the fabulous meta quality that made the first one a successful parody of spy-action flicks. There's a smash-bang car chase that opens the movie. There's another crazed villain -- this one without a lisp or monochromatic wardrobe -- in Julianne Moore, whose global drug cartel has enshrined her atop a Cambodian mountain in a terrifyingly polished '50s kitsch theme park. There's a bizarre scene where hunky star Taron Egerton has to plant a tracking device inside a woman at a music festival. There's a smart parallel of Kingsman culture in cowboy Americana "Statesman," led with panache and boots by Jeff Bridges, Pedro Pascal, and Channing Tatum.
Like the first one, this one is pretty much what it was marketed as. A smutty excuse for ultra-violent action and ultra-silly parody, filmed as if it were the product of a tryst between a video game and graphic novel. It's sexy and stupid, violent and strange. It throws blood at you while grinning from behind bared fangs and joking about anal sex. (Actually, there is a particularly gut-laugh-worthy moment when Elton John, playing himself, dressed in lurid artificial feathers, offers Colin Firth a backstage pass to his concerts.)
As I said, all is fun and light and silly until it starts weighing itself down with sentiment and Big Ideas that just don't mesh with the nonsense spewing at you from the screen. Mark Strong's role gets weird when he starts singing John Denver songs in his Scottish accent in the middle of a jungle. The climax gets weird when huge mechanical dogs enter the fray. Colin Firth's presence is just generally weird, as he gets awkwardly resurrected and cured of amnesia. Halle Berry and Emily Watson show up a couple of times for little real reason.
If you have a mind for mindless action and humor, or if you enjoy self-reflexive awareness in movies, this sequel might be for you. It's certainly dazzling to look at, even if you can't quite swallow its half-baked preposterous bilge.
IMDb: Kingsman: The Golden Circle
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