‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ Review Round-Up

Two years isn’t enough time for the world to forget the agents of Kingsman. The spy organization made its way to theaters in 2015 with one wildly successful film, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle is set to follow the first up this weekend. Luckily, the sequel is getting some promising reviews to back fans (and their wallets) up.

Earlier today, press sites were able to post their reviews of Kingsman: The Golden Circle for the public. As you can see below, critics from Variety and IGN have lent their opinions of the film, and it looks like Kingsman is in for another hit.

Reviews may question the sequel’s tamer aesthetic, but Kingsman: The Golden Circle excels with its characters. Taron Egerton returns to lead the film as Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin alongside alumni like Colin Firth. Newcomers such as Halle Berry and Channing Tatum help set up the spy thriller’s opposing spy agency, and the agents of Statesmen will surely get moviegoers going.

It’s a good thing Kingsman: The Golden Circle is being met with praise; After all, director Matthew Vaughn hopes to see the franchise turn into a trilogy. During a film Q&A attended by Deadline, Vaughn told press he and co-writer Jane Goldman are already thinking of a third movie.

“Weirdly while we were writing Kingsman 2, we were thinking of Kingsman 3 as well, which is odd. We’ve got a big idea for that,” the director admitted. “This is sort of the bridge and if we can pull this off, we’ll make another one.”

ComicBook’s Brandon Davis was lucky enough to check out an early screening of the Kingsman sequel, and he’s got a message for fans: prepare for all the Elton John. You can check out his reaction here:

If you want to check out Kingsman: The Golden Circle, you can see it in theaters this weekend. The sequel is slated to premiere on September 22, 2017. You can check out reviews of the much-awaited movie below:

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Variety

“As if the original “Kingsman” weren’t cartoony enough, with its blade-legged Asian assassin and gratuitous exploding-heads finale, the sequel has gone and pushed the franchise’s cheeky brand of absurdity even farther. The goofiness begins with the resurrection of two important characters, whose unequivocal deaths we witnessed in the first movie. First, there’s Charlie, a rival secret-service recruit played by Edward Holcroft, who lost his head in that notorious fireworks montage, now back with a bionic arm and a new boss (more on that in a minute). And then there’s Colin Firth’s character, impeccably dressed spy-master Harry Hart, who took a point-blank bullet to the eye — and here lives to tell about it.” – Variety

IGN

“With Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the sequel to 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service, director Matthew Vaughn has once again tailored a film that’s an outlandish mix of over-the-top action, subversive social commentary, and oddly sweet character dynamics. As absurd, ultra-violent, and darkly humorous as it can get, The Golden Circle remembers that its heart and humor comes from remaining emotionally invested in its endearing protagonists.” – IGN

Screen Rant

“Kingsman: The Golden Circle is the sequel to 2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service, reuniting the creative team behind the scenes of co-writers Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, with Vaughn additionally returning to the director’s chair. Vaughn also reteams with cinematographer George Richmond and editor Eddie Hamilton (though The Secret Service was edited by Hamilton and Jon Harris). The first film was based on the graphic novel, The Secret Service, from writer Mark Millar and artist Dave Gibbons, a twist on spy genre action films like James Bond. Although The Golden Circle diverges from the original Kingsman comic book source material, it continues the adventures of Eggsy and the independent intelligence agency. Kingsman: The Golden Circle doubles down on slick action and spy genre riffs, but adds enough fresh and fun elements to provide an exciting sequel.” – Screen Rant

Screen Crush

“What is it with megalomaniacal bad guys and gold? There was Goldfinger, Goldmember, and now there’s Poppy Adams, the perkily fiendish leader of the drug cartel known as the Golden Circle. As part of the Circle’s initiation, each new member gets a loop of real gold tattooed onto their chest. When you have as many goons as Poppy does, this is a really pricey affectation.

Like a lot of stuff in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, its villain’s metallurgical fetish is a callback to old-school James Bond movies. This sequel to 2015’s Kingsman: The Secret Service continues its predecessor’s colorful reinvention of campy ’70s Bond tropes, and broadens the franchise’s mythology to introduce a whole new group of spies, an American intelligence agency known as Statesman. The new characters and concepts don’t add a whole lot to a film is way too long and plodding in its middle act, but the returning heroes and giddily vulgar comedy and action are still good for some solid laughs and thrills.” – Screen Crush

Nerdist

“The surprise hit is something Hollywood doesn’t really know how to handle. The practicing of giving anything slightly off-kilter the budget to actually get made (and hoping it might turn a profit) is falling by the wayside, but once in awhile these films do make it to cinemas, and every once in a while those movies are great. But what do you do with them after that initial success? If it’s Kingsman: The Secret Service, the 2014 movie which took a Mark Millar comic and made a very raunchy, hyper-violent send-up of the James Bond oeuvre that grossed $414 million worldwide, you put a sequel in the works right away. Now, three years later, the sequel is here and the result is spending more time with characters you like, but losing a fair amount of the original’s edge.” – Nerdist

io9

“Imagine you were 10 years old and given five minutes to tear through a toy store. You’d sprint in, grab everything you wanted, and fall down from exhaustion at the end. It would be an amazing time, but with so much happening so fast, what would the real, lasting memory be? That experience, in movie form, is Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

The kids in this wild hypothetical are Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn and his co-writer, Jane Goldman. They’ve crafted a film filled with excitement. It’s got chills, thrills, and oodles of awesome. And yet, by the end, it feels a little like sensory overload.” – io9

Digital Spy

“How do you recapture the surprise thrill of that first hit? Well, judging from the eye-saucering, jaw-plummeting opening scene, with ease: held at gunpoint in a speeding black cab, a tuxedoed Eggsy sets about his escape, first engaging in a ferocious backseat brawl that somehow spills onto the roof of the car, and then by seeing off a fleet of chasing vehicles peopled by goons poking out of sunroofs to spray lead from machine-guns.

Audaciously choreographed, seamlessly CGI-augmented and riddled with as many humorous beats as bullets, this screeching set-piece almost – almost – matches the infamous church massacre and exploding heads climax of the first movie. Alas, nothing that follows musters quite the same verve.” – Digital Spy

The Mary Sue

“In Kingsman: The Golden Circle, our British heroes find themselves fighting alongside their American counterparts, and the resulting film is American-sized—that is, super-sized: everything here is bigger, louder, brasher, more political, more expensive, more violent. And if you were a fan of the original Kingsman, you know that this is a tall order to fill. The movie never flinches, though you might.” – The Mary Sue