Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Colin Firth,
Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Channing Tatum,

Edward Holcroft, Hanna Alstrom

"Reports of my Death have been
greatly Exaggerated"

Through some elaborate hacking scheme, the Kingsman headquarters is blown up along with the residences of some of its agents. Only Eggsy (Taron Egerton)) and Merlin (Mark Strong) are left to pick up the pieces.  This leads them to Kentucky where they discover Statesman, their American counterpart hidden inside a whiskey distillery. 

Much to their surprise, they also discover that Harry Hart (Colin Firth), who was Eggsy's mentor is still alive but suffers from severe amnesia due to the procedure that saved his life and was performed by agents of Statesman.

Both agencies combine to fight a common enemy, an organization known as The Golden Circle headed by  Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore). A megalomaniac out to control the illegal drugs trade. Her base is deep in the jungles of Cambodia and guarded by armed men and two vicious mechanical dog robots. The design of the place pays tribute to the 1950s with a big diner that reminds us of one of the venues at the Universal Studios amusement parks.

The first installment concentrated on the training of the new recruits of secret spy agency. It was an action filled, slick parody of the Bond movies. It was fast paced, peppered with multi-dimensional characters and the plot was interesting enough to grab your attention.

The sequel features an actual operation which involves many side plots, set in various locations like the stunning sequence in the Italian Alps. Big name stars like Halle Berry, Jeff Bridges and Channing Tatum are not used for their full potential. 

While villains like Poppy Adams and Agent Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) are reduced to caricatures which is a pity. Don't get me started on Elton John starring as himself in quite a ridiculous role, that was just plain silly and quite stupid. Eggsy is still charmingly portrayed by Taron Egerton but giving him a love interest in the persona of a Swedish princess with whom he has no chemistry at all is a major  flaw. 

It is still a good popcorn movie despite its glaring flaws. I do like the soundtrack as it features John Denver's songs so I can totally relate with Merlin! Hehe