British secret agents are cut out from a different fabric — they are suave, good-looking and gifted with irrepressible wit. Now bring that special fabric to a tailor and have a suit custom-made, and what you get is a Kingsman.
“Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” the second of Matthew Vaughn’s secret agent action comedies, has its lens fixated on a young, relatively new Kingsman — Eggsy, the boy from the wrong side of the tracks who was trained to become a secret service agent disguising as a high-end tailor by senior agent Harry Hart aka Galahad.
Eggsy, played by Taron Egerton, is as charming and spirited; although at times obviously affected by the supposed demise of his mentor, played by Colin Firth.
Eggsy is compelled to step up when the rest of the Kingsmen are murdered through the machinery of the Golden Circle, a drug cartel led by Poppy Adams. Forget the dark suits, tobacco and groomed beard and mustache; Poppy Adams is not your typical drug lord. She is a beautiful woman with a soccer mom vibe who talks in sweet tones to her henchmen as she operates an illegal organization from a ’50s era inspired wonderland — complete with a diner and a cinema — in a remote location somewhere in Cambodia.
The film relies on a lot of star power with big-name actors portraying quite a few interesting roles. The sickeningly sweet yet lethal Poppy Adams is played by Julianne Moore, who has proven her mettle playing emotionally troubled women in previous projects but ups the ante by playing the disturbed but charismatic drug dealer in this film.
Channing Tatum plays Agent Tequila, Halle Berry stars as Ginger Ale, Pedro Pascal as Agent Whiskey, and Jeff Bridges is Champagne, the ring leader of the Statesmen, which is essentially the American counterpart of the Kingsmen. While the Kingsmen operate out of a Saville Row tailor’s shop, the Statesmen work undercover as whiskey distillers with main headquarters in Kentucky, USA.
A saccharine sweet villainess and four new characters named after a few drinks may be a lot to swallow, but one understands why their inclusion is essential. It would have been impossible for Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong), the only ones left of the Kingsmen, to get to the bottom of their colleagues’ mass murder without resources and backup.
This is where the Statesmen come in, and where they also discover what has become of Harry Hart.
Resources meaning, how else would resident geek and gadget maverick Merlin be able to create that watch that can hack through any electronic device, an umbrella that works as a shield against all types of ammunition — or if that doesn’t work — a suitcase that doubles as a shield?
Who else would have a command center that can monitor everything from one location — thanks to Ginger Ale and her gizmos, the Kingsmen have all the help they need to put an end to the Golden Circle and to save the world from a narcotic-induced epidemic.
Without these absurd, out-of-this-world innovations, the epic-long and highly choreographed action fight scenes wouldn’t be as funny or as entertaining. And speaking of entertaining, Elton John appears as himself, parading utter flamboyance, held captive for the personal entertainment of the head villainess.
Perhaps the drug cartel foiled by secret agents isn’t so new, but the hilarity and depiction are particular to the Kingsman franchise. Nobody else can create scenarios so preposterous and stylized yet so amusing and get away with it. There are too many cringe-worthy moments and everything is in excess —from the spy gadgets and killer dog robots and minutes-long fight scenes — but “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” is altogether the funniest yet most outlandish spy comedy there is, so far.
However, what is more startling — perhaps to the Filipino viewer — is while the plot itself is ridiculous and light years away from happening in real life, it also captures certain realities in the most brazen and exaggerated manner.
In the film, the president of the United States, played by Bruce Greenwood, feels comfortable and even relieved by the idea of eliminating drug users through genocide. Quite eerie.
“Kingsman: The Golden Circle” is now showing in cinemas nationwide. It is distributed locally by 20th Century Fox through Warner Bros.
