Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Kingsman: The Golden Circle Blu-ray Movie Review

Lost in America.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 16, 2017

Hollywood (and indeed any filmmaking mecca) seems to operate under the maxim of “Nothing succeeds like excess,” and for one of this past year’s most potent examples, one need look no further than Kingsman: The Golden Circle. This is a film with all that money can buy, including a coterie of high profile (and Academy Award winning) actors, fantastic production design, amazing special effects, and the kind of set pieces that are sure to set even a diehard adrenaline junkie’s heart rate racing. And yet there’s a curiously listless feeling to a lot of this enterprise, even if bits here and there work at least relatively well. The film is often overly labored, and has some structural deficits that even flashy visuals can’t quite completely distract from, but none of that seemed to matter very much when Kingsman: The Golden Circle had its theatrical release, one which, despite many of those curmudgeonly critic types (ahem) expressing their reservations about the sequel, went on to rake in considerable dough, to the point that a third Kingsman is already being discussed.

It’s seemingly a requirement that films like Kingsman: The Golden Circle begin with an exciting action sequence, and in this case it’s a smackdown featuring newly minted “Galahad” Eggsy Unwin (Teron Egerton), who is accosted by a failed Kingsman applicant named Charlie Hesketh (Edward Holcroft) one evening as Eggsy leaves the redolent tailor’s shop which may remind some older spy loving audience members of an at least somewhat similar locale in the long running television version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. Hesketh was kind of a sidebar to the original Kingsman: The Secret Service, but in one of the kind of odd approaches Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn’s screenplay takes in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the character’s current semi-bionic state is only explained after Hesketh and Eggsy battle it out in the back of a supposed taxi cab.

Meanwhile (and there’s a lot of “meanwhile” in this film, something that makes the narrative repeatedly lurch in fits and starts), a quick shot of some “party favors” at Eggsy’s house leads to an initial voiceover by one Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore), who is kind of like Weeds: The Complete Collection’s Nancy Botwin on steroids, having built up a corporate entity that delivers high octane drugs to a devoted (and potentially addicted) populace. In just one of this film’s arguably overly precious elements, Poppy has built a kind of fifties kitsch “paradise” in a remote location from which she operates her drug empire, an enclave that's somewhat like a maniacal Disneyland (so to speak) where she trains new acolytes like Angel (Tom Benedict Knight), while also holding Elton John (who might not want to give up his day job) hostage. It’s all just resolutely silly, played to the second balcony (and beyond) by Julianne, Elton and the others, but never really delivering any substantial laughs.

Poppy’s quest for world domination or at least being able to traffic drugs without the pesky intervention of law enforcement types ends up wiping out Kingsman, as well as at least one innocent bystander, in a raucous sequence that has absolutely zero emotional impact and is in fact kind of played for laughs. As soon becomes apparent, though, it doesn’t really matter if a character dies in a Kingsman entry, due to a revelation that shows up once the sole surviving Kingsman duo of Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong) are led to the “American” version of their spy network, one cheekily named Statesman and one which operates under the “cover” not of being a haberdashery but instead that of a distillery. It’s here that they meet Tequila (Channing Tatum), Champagne (Jeff Bridges) and Ginger Ale (Halle Berry), the last of whom reveals that a character who supposedly met his demise in the Kingsman: The Secret Service is in fact still alive and kicking, albeit with amnesia (of course). That of course turns out to be Harry Hart (Colin Firth) himself, though the brief flashback detailing his rescue from the first film’s calamitous climax is kind of shockingly underdeveloped and even illogical.

The supposedly main plot involves a dastardly scheme on the part of Poppy which involves tainted drugs more or less infecting the general populace, with Poppy kindly (?) offering to provide an antidote only if she is allowed to proceed with her “business plans” unfettered. There’s an obvious analog to swaths of people being affected by an unseen “assailant” that links this film with its progenitor, but unfortunately even the incomparable Moore can’t make Poppy quite as memorable as Samuel L. Jackson’s gonzo villain in the first film.

It’s more than obvious, though, that franchise developer Matthew Vaughn wants to go for the gusto in this film even more than he did in the first outing. That means this entry has even more lunatic stunt work, with a number of impressively staged sequences. That said, there’s an emptiness at the core of this film that is perhaps highlighted by a surprising lack of impact in any of the supposedly more emotionally relevant material, including the discovery of Harry or even some impending nuptials for Eggsy. Kingsman: The Golden Circle might in fact have been better entitled Kingsman: The Golden Arches not just because Poppy likes to fry up a burger or two at times (that's a bit of a joke), but because it provides a lot of calories with very little actual nourishment.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Digitally captured with Arri Alexa cameras and finished at a 2K DI, this is, like its cinematic parent, a largely ravishing looking presentation, one with crisp detail levels throughout and some kind of fun and whimsical "bells and whistles" that add visual allure to simple things like dissolves between scenes. Fine detail is typically very appealing on items like the natty suits Eggsy wears. The palette is rather lush, with elements like Elton in his bright red finery popping with considerable saturation. A few of the CGI elements are kind of surprisingly soft looking, including a couple of explosions, but otherwise this is a top flight looking transfer that should please the franchise's fans.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kingsman: The Golden Circle features an energetic DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix which provides a glut of bombastic surround activity from the get go, as the cab fight provides both incredible panning effects as well as great discrete placement of individual effects in isolated channels. There's some extremely forceful LFE at key junctures, including the explosions that take out worldwide Kingsman agents. Dialogue and score are also rendered with crystal clarity, excellent fidelity and extremely wide dynamic range throughout the presentation.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Kingsman: Inside the Golden Circle (1080p; 1:57:13) is a set of nine featurettes covering everything from VFX to Elton John.


• Black Cab Chaos: Anatomy of a Killer Chase (1080p; 12:49) is a fun piece documenting the filming of the opening set piece.


• Kingsman Archives

  Concept Art

  Sets (1080p; 1:33)

  Costumes (1080p; 1:33)

  Stills

  Behind the Scenes (1080p; 00:48)

  Sets (1080p; 1:23)

  Props (1080p; 00:23)

  The Cast (1080p; 1:58)

  Note: All of the above galleries feature either Manual Advance or Auto Advance options. The timings are for the Auto Advance options.
• Theatrical Trailers (1080p; 3:53)

Kingsman: The Golden Circle Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a manic quality to Kingsman: The Golden Circle that (in my estimation, at least) tends to undercut some of the spry fun that this second "at bat" is obviously trying to generate. Structurally, the film is just kind of a mess, spending a lot of time in the opening act kind of ping ponging willy nilly between Eggsy and Poppy and never really weaving the threads together very well (a fatal mistake for a supposed tailor). Performances are still enjoyable, if intentionally hammy, and this film like the first offers impeccable production design and some astounding set pieces. Technical merits are very strong for those considering a purchase.