KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE – DELIGHTFUL COMIC BOOK STYLE BOND

Kingsman-golden-circleSHORT TAKE:

Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the sequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service, successfully returns to the tongue-in-cheek spy world of Eggsey – the street tough turned posh spy.

LONG TAKE:

Take one part Avengers superheroes, one part tongue in cheek graphic novel adaptation, throw in characters you’ve come to love from the first Kingsman,  add a touch of monomaniacal villain complete with homicidal robot dogs and a henchman with a cybernetic killer arm,  gizmos that would have made Q salivate, Zombieland-style comic book graphic violence, and blend with a Bond background – shaken not stirred – and you have Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

kingsman 1 posterI loved Kingsman: The Secret Service. 007 which skates right up to the edge of parody, complete with outrageous fight scenes, action which would have killed an ordinary human a dozen times over leave our heroes unscathed and not even sweaty. If you haven’t seen the first one, The Golden Circle can stand on its own. Background is provided when needed – sparse enough not to be a sledgehammer but enough to all make sense.

Kingsman does it right. They do NOT take themselves too seriously but still respect their characters and the world they inhabit. They always stay within the confines of the universe they create. They never cheat out a deus ex machine. Their problems are convoluted but their resolutions are based upon established clues.

characters kingsman 1The first Kingsman movie introduced the Kingsmen, a secret society of spies and specialists who defend the world from bad guys. Based in England their code names are taken from the Arthurian legends.harry & eggsey We also meet our hero – Eggsey – a diamond in the rough, son of a deceased  Kingsman who Harry (Colin Firth), veteran Kingsman (code named Galahad) sponsors as a candidate to become a Kingsman. We get to see the trials and are introduced to that film’s super-villain played by a lisping Samuel L Jackson.

eggseyThis time out we pick up the story in a very Bond-like dramatic fashion, with a bang – and an outlandish car chase, a cybernetic bad guy, bombs, and underwateran underwater hideout – as the now experienced Kingsman, Eggsey, thwarts a battalion of unknown henchman who try to assassinate him.

I really don’t want to give anything away because this a movie that is tremendous fun and full of surprises and delightful cameos. It deserves to be enjoyed unspoiled. But I will say that Golden Circle introduces us to an entire other group of Kingsmen – cousins you might say – to help combat a new world threatening megalomaniac.

merlin and eggseyTaron Egerton is, again, delightful as, Eggsey, the street-wise polished Eliza Doolittle of the Bond world. I was really happy to see Mark Strong reappear in one of the few good guys roles he’s ever done as Merlin, this Universe’s Q. princess tildeHanna Alstrom reprises her role as Princess Tilde, former damsel in distress, now Eggsey’s girlfriend. And then there’s……well, as Dr. Who’s River Song might caution —- Spoilers, which I am loathe to do here.statesmen

I highly recommend this movie to any ADULT who wants to see a fun, funny, action adventure, good old fashioned archly delivered Bond yarn. casino royaleFor anyone old enough to remember the David Niven 1967 outright parody of James Bond, Casino Royale, there is a small flavoring of that too, like a teensy bit of sugar in a spaghetti sauce, just to be sure we don’t take ourselves too seriously.

But ADULT is the key noun here. There are an exorbitant number of profanities. (I love the British and British movies, but I sometimes genuinely wonder if they know any  emotion filled adjective other than the F word). And there are an unfortunate number of blasphemies used as expletives. In addition there is at least one graphic, oddly and ultimately animated rather intimate physical scene.

robot dogs

There is a LOT of comic book violence including everything from explosions to dismemberment and an unnaturally clean Fargo homage.

But if you are in the mood and of  the disposition, if you enjoyed the first Kingsman then you will love this one too. There are plenty of familiar references but lots of new characters, innovations, bad guys and preposterous plot contrivances to keep even the most jaded adventure/spy thriller fan happy.

Kingsman, like Eggsey, may be the new kid on the block in terms of spy adventures, but this budding franchise, like our intrepid hero, has proven itself again. k-gcLike the first Kingsman outing, Golden Circle is both a really good time on the outlandish spy adventure train as well as often laugh out loud funny and just plain old, sometimes even silly, fun. But this ride is for big people only.

WHAT DO THE SOUND OF MUSIC AND THE KINGSMAN HAVE IN COMMON?

Sound of Music

The Sound of Music – this classic iconic tale has children, singing, nuns, the hills of Austria and nuns – did I mention it has nuns? The Sound of Music story hinges on Maria bringing the family Von Trapp back together after the father steps out of the lives of his children following the death of his wife. The solution, if you note, is not the arrival of Maria, but the recommitment of the dad back into the children's lives. Even when Maria leaves in the middle of the movie subsequent to her becoming aware of her infatuation with Captain Von Trapp, the family is fundamentally healed because the Captain has retaken the mantle of father. Maria's return is the icing on the cake but her return is not essential to the children's ultimate well being.

Kingsman              Kingsman2 by Fansshare.com

Kingsman: The Secret Service could not be more in contrast. British comedy drama. Over the top semi-spoof, semi-homage to the spy thriller. Extremely violent, full of profanity. Not a nun to be found. Yet here too the theme plays out. Eggsy is the teen son of a deceased member of an elite secret squad of spy/troubleshooters. In the first 5 minutes of the movie his father is killed in the line of duty. When Eggsy's future mentor, Harry Hart (Colin Firth) brings the news to Eggsy's mom, Eggsy is a young child. Nice middle class home. Sensible widow. Fast forward 17 years and the sensible widow is now a slutty co-dependent case book definition of abused woman in a destructive relationship, living in a tenement with Eggsy and her illegitimate child of the live-in abusive boyfriend. Without the Dad – disaster. Eggsy will eventually step up to the plate but only after Harry has provided Eggsy with the desperately needed father figure.

Two movies with drastically different audience demographics. One's a family-oriented, religiously devout musical, the other a futuristic, somewhat dystopian, occasionally sexually crass, graphically violent action flick. (I'll let you figure out which is which. LOL) If you created a Venn diagram of people who would want to see either movie, you would have an intersecting sliver with little more than a tangent line connecting them.  (OK – I've seen both but, then I watch a LOT of movies.) You really cannot get much more of a contrast between styles than Sound of Music and Kingsman. The only thing they share superficially is the fact there are British accents in both.  But both share, unexpectedly, the EXACT same world-view on the family – that there is no real family without a strong father figure.

How is that relevant? Well, my point here is that there seems to be an instinctive understanding, even in film makers who do not have sensitivity for conventional morals, that a solid father figure, such as Captain Von Trapp in SoM and Harry in Kingsman, who has the best interests of the youth in their care, is vital to the well being of those young people. That a mom, while nice to have around, is NOT the lynch pin that a family should depend on. Sorry ladies. And I am the mother of six.

Next Up: Back to the Father – Part VIII: Laughing at Dad

Photo credits: theguardian.com, fansshare.com, and imdb.com