Hollywood producer and visionary Matthew Vaughn in 2015 reaffirmed his status as a ruthless destroyer of film traditions. His project “Kingsman: The Secret Service” raised $ 414 million at the box office with a starting budget of $ 81,000,000, thanks in part to the director’s prodigious approach.
An exception
The public premiere of the sequel was waiting with growing impatience. The creators teased fans with the resurrected hero Colin Firth, a stunning cast, which included five Oscar winners, and vowed to keep the level of the original tape.
Finally, in 2017, the big spy-comedy hit “Kingsman 2” was released (front-end actors: T. Edgerton, K. Firth, D. Moore). The film received many accolades and a rather high IMDb rating: 7.00. If you try to describe the picture in one word, then the most appropriate would be “vigorously”.
For a spy action movie of 141 minutes, this is just great. Spectacular hand-to-hand combat, humor on the verge, inexorable development of events, accompanied by country and clockwork rock and roll, - the sequel “Kingsman 2: The Golden Ring”, the actors and roles of which the audience will surely be remembered, looks more driving and juicy than the original tape. This is extremely rare.
Expectation and reality
The story of the picture “Kingsman 2”, the actors of which are partially familiar to the viewer from the first part, without spending time on the introduction, takes off the bat. The main character agent Gary "Eggsy" Anvin (Theron Edgerton) goes down the steps of the Kingsman studio and immediately becomes involved in a brawl, after a shootout and chase.
The beginning of the story is more than promising. Given the fact that the main details of the storyline were known in advance. The watcher is waiting for the action to move to the United States, and characters played by Holly Berry, Channing Tatum, Pedro Pascal and Jeff Bridges will be added to the familiar characters. Julianne Moore, reincarnated as an antagonist, will villain to the maximum. But the director significantly slows down, playing a fun interlude about dinner in the royal family, playing on the impatience of the viewer.
The ups and downs of the caste
Actors of the first part significantly delayed the start of production of the action movie "Kingsman 2". For example, the performer of the key character role, Theron Edgerton, could not participate in the filming on the planned schedule, since he managed to conclude a contract with the production group of the movie "Robin Hood: The Beginning" and was supposed to take part in its filming. After long negotiations, the studios managed to come to an agreement.
In addition to Theron, actors Edward Holcroft, Sophie Cookson and Mark Strong migrated from the original tape to Kingsman 2. A significant advantage of the project was the participation of stars of the first magnitude: Julianne Moore, Holly Berry, Colin Firth, Jeff Bridges and Sir Elton John. The latter played himself, and each of his appearance in the frame is just a fire! The famous showman organically fit into the comedy-surreal action-movie “Kingsman 2: The Golden Ring”.
Actors and roles
Jeff Bridges, unfortunately, played a rather small role as the head of the Statesman, nicknamed Champagne. Channing Tatum in the form of an agent of Tequila is remembered for her incomparable dance and final dressing. The role of Cola, performed by Holly Berry, is also rather meager, but the 50-year-old actress always looks charming.
Moore, reincarnated as the extravagant drug baroness Poppy Adams, is excellent in her insanity. Firth, who trained during the preparation for the shooting, daily for three hours with martial artists, is traditionally magnificent. The protagonist performed by Edgerton finally forgot the old habits of a London gopnik, matured and acquired the manners of a true gentleman.
The image of the agent of Whiskey went to Pedro Pascal, he constantly cowboys and resurrects. By the way, his character had the least complaints from critics, perhaps there would not have been any at all if it were not for predictability, which is difficult to ignore.
While watching, it seems that all the star actors in Kingsman 2: The Golden Ring do not play, showing all the facets of their talent, but rather are fooling around, turning the project into a parody of films about super spies. It may be so, but the dynamics of the interaction between the main character and his team are impeccable, and from the agents of Statesman we got funny colleagues for gentlemen-spies Kingsman.