AND STIRRED!
convincing turn as an affronted diva who seizes the chance to take revenge on his jailors with a bloodthirsty zeal.
Not everything in the film works. At two hours and 20 minutes, it feels a tad over-long, and the sprawling story doesn’t withstand much scrutiny. Poppy smuggles a lethal virus into her product and, after it has infected millions of recreational drug-users, offers to release the antidote on condition that the president of the U.S. legalises her contraband.
Eh? Why would the female equivalent of Pablo Escobar hatch a plot to enable her to pay tax on her vast profits? Al Capone would be appalled.
There’s also a romantic subplot involving Eggsy’s attempts to settle down with a Swedish princess that’s so dull even the makers of the film lose interest after the two-hour mark.
The emotional heart of the film is really the bromance between Eggsy and Harry Hart (Colin Firth), his mentor from the first film. Harry was killed off in the first film, but Vaughn and his screenwriter Jane Goldman have wisely decided to resurrect him for the sequel.
In the first film, Hart’s job was to transform Eggsy into a perfect English gentleman as well as a spy — Henry Higgins to Egerton’s Eliza Doolittle.
There’s less for Firth to do in the sequel, but the scenes between him and Egerton have an emotional weight that stop the film disappearing into a whirlpool of silliness.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a bit baggier than the original, puffed up by a bigger budget and more star power. But it is hugely entertaining nonetheless, full of wit and invention.
I don’t suppose Kingsman will ever replace Bond, but it provides a welcome counterpoint to a franchise that has become too politically correct.
If it’s sex and violence you’re after, leavened by plenty of arch humour, Kingsman delivers.