BSA 104 (Scriptwriting) Week 11 : Kingsman : The Golden Circle

Eggsy returns as a James Bond in the making, with the headquarters destroyed, he teams up with the Statesman, the American counterpart of the Kingsman, and sets out on another adventure to save the world.

Kingman: The Golden Circle is, like its predecessor, a very fun time at the movies. It is ridiculous and over the top, but it works as a spoof on the classic James Bond spy flick. It provides plenty of spectacle with a healthy dose of emotion, comedy and a genuine sense consequence. Where The Golden Circle fails is in comparison to its older brother - Kingsman: The Secret Service. It feels like one of those classic movie sequels that originated in the 80's, where it retreads the same ground as the original film in a different enough way that it stands on its own. Many people criticize these sequels for being a rehash of the original that offers nothing new, and while that might be true I don't think its necessarily a bad thing. I never saw Kingsman: The Secret Service in theaters and this felt like seeing that movie for the first time again but on the big screen.

 As essentially the same film it still stands as an amazingly fun time with enough emotional and stylistic elements to put it apart from your average action flick. It does however suffer from being so similar to its forebear, removing a lot of its originality and surprise. The various callbacks and references to the first and reversal or alteration of key plot points from that film feel cheap and somewhat lessens the effect of The Secret Service. This is the worst part of The Golden Circle, it doesn't add as much to the first as it removes or alter it. This movie feels like it shouldn't be watched with The Secret Service and yet it relies heavily on the audience having seen that film. A typical case of fixing whats not broken. Some aspects improve over the first, as sequels often do. The commentary and subversion of classic Bond is one element that is more enhanced this time around. Some of these subversions would not be possible without the existence of the first film and in this way works well as an expansion on whats already there - the best thing that Kingsman 2 does as a sequel.

Other things are a blatant step down in quality from the first, the characters for example. The Secret Service did a very good job of crafting engaging characters who we sympathized with and providing the actors inhabiting those roles enough material so that they can display a range of emotions. In short the performances were better in the first, this might just be due to the writing though. In some respects this film has gone too far with the concept, an amputee with sword prosthetics is now two fully-functional robot dogs. The story is too cluttered, there's so much that happens in the film it becomes hard to recall every scene. The direction they decided to take the story in is different to what the end of the first movie promised, this took a while to get used to and even when I did I found myself longing for the bright future that was promised during the closing scenes of The Secret Service.

Kingsman 2 is a step down from the first, and while an amazingly fun time at the theater, it left me disappointed and longing for what the first movie promised. The movie reminds me a lot of Ghostbusters 2 or movies of that nature, where it is a bad sequel but not necessarily a bad movie. I think if seen by itself without the expectation created by The Secret Service, that The Golden Circle could be seen as a very good film. With the comparisons there it feels like a lesser movie. If the filmmakers didn't put so much emphasis on following up the first and instead made it its own standalone film, without adhering to every plot point from that first film, then I think it would have been a much better movie.

The main character here is a hold-over from the first film, a lot of what makes us as an audience adhere to him is because of what we already know about him. He's a very likable character, but a lot of what makes him so likable is his underdog status at the start of The Secret Service and because of the journey we saw him go through. In this film his life is much better than it used to be, all the things that held him back are fixed, on top of that he's taken on the James Bond role of being the best at what he does. What he does being a master or all trades. If this movie has to stand on its own two legs without the setup from the first, is Eggsy still a likable character?

 The question that really comes up here is whether or not a character like Bond is truly likable. After some thought I think I know why we like James Bond so much. Sympathising with a character is not the only way of making an audience member dig a character, respect and admiration also come into play. We like Bond because he's suave and good at what he does. I think that is translated into this film, Eggsy is quickly established as a proficient but light-hearted character.

There was never a particular incident in this film that made me like him, but the events of the first movie and the continuations of plot points from it (like the weakness Eggsy displays when he thinks about his old mentor) is what make me like him so much.

There are a lot of cool new characters in this movie, and a great cast playing them, but the character that'll be most people's favourite has to be Mark Strong's Merlin. He was likable in the first movie but his role has been kicked up a notch in this one. The incident that makes us back him has to be when he establishes his desire to work in the field. Emulating the same affect from the first where we supported Eggsy because of his underdog status, this plot point has a similar effect on how we see Merlin. A goal that he can't achieve is established and we want to see him get there, this is a very sympathetic moment. Taken from Harry's character in the first, Merlin's sacrifice later in the movie really made me see him as my favourite character from The Golden Circle.

The Secret Service excelled at creating exciting moments in which we want to see the main character achieve in doing something awesome. The end scene where Eggsy goes up against Sam Jackson and his goons was definitely the most engaging part of that film, fitting as it was the climax. The Golden Circle does the same thing, and just about equally effectively. The most engaging part of this film was the climactic battle, in which some very important plot points come to their conclusion accompanied by what the Kingsman movies does extremely well and uniquely, action.

I really enjoyed this movie and never got disengaged, I know it's not as good as the first movie but it was one that held my attention throughout. It's strengths I think outweigh the weaknesses, great action, interesting characters played by a great cast and some good world building additions. The places where the movie falls flat is when compared to the first movie, plot points that detract from the first, bloating and a villain that pails in comparison.