Kingsman: The Golden Circle [Blu-Ray]

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong

Release Date: December 12, 2017

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10

Synopsis:

Kingsman: The Secret Service introduced the world to Kingsman. In Kingsman: The Golden Circle, our heroes face a new challenge when their headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage. Their journey leads them to the discovery of an allied spy organization in the US called Statesman, and in a new adventure, these two elite, secret organizations band together to defeat a ruthless common enemy in order to save the world, something that’s becoming a bit of a habit for Eggsy. Kingsman: The Golden Circle stars Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Halle Berry, with Elton John and Channing Tatum, and Jeff Bridges.

Return to the world introduced in ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ as director Matthew Vaughn once again takes viewers on another hilariously action-packed adventure with our heroes in the explosive sequel ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’. Following the tragic loss of his mentor, Eggsy (Egerton) is now a full-fledged member of the Kingsman and doing his best to retain the justice of his mentor’s title. But once the sadistic drug lord Poppy (Moore) manages to accomplish the unthinkable and successfully eradicates the entirety of the Kingsman agents with the exception of Eggsy and Merlin (Strong) things take a dangerous turn. With the operation entering doomsday mode, the remainder of the Kingsman must journey to America and join forces with the Statesman if they hope to stand any chance of taking down Poppy before she can complete the final step in her evil plan; while also uncovering a few unexpected surprises along the way, such as the return of Eggsy’s mentor who isn’t quite as dead as they had initially believed him to be.

Once again directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman: The Secret Service, X-Men: First Class) who additionally co-wrote the screenplay this time around with Jane Goldman (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kick-Ass), Vaughn does a fantastic job at the helm of ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ guiding this wildly enjoyable follow up along with constant style and charm. The film also owes plenty of credit to the powerhouse cast comprised of both new and returning individuals to the series, including Colin Firth (A Single Man), Taron Egerton (Eddie The Eagle), Mark Strong (The Imitation Game), Julianne Moore (Suburbicon), Halle Berry (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Pedro Pascal (The Great Wall), Edward Holcroft (Vampire Academy), Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Channing Tatum (Logan Lucky) and the legendary Elton John along with a number more, nearly all delivering solid performances in each of their respective roles.

‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ serves up another wildly enjoyable ride brimming with enough bloody and stylish action sequences and laughs to keep fans of the series glued to the screen with a grin on their face for a good share of its duration. Featuring a number of returning characters along with plenty of colorful newcomers, including a spectacularly over the top villain in Poppy who Julianne Moore forms into something truly special, and a whole new slew of problems that guarantee an even more explosive and action-packed ride than the last time around. Perhaps the biggest fault ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ suffers is its extended runtime and the fact that it features such a plethora of unique characters that often get less attention than deserved, with the numerous storylines it attempts to follow becoming slightly jumbled at times. Nonetheless, the film always manages to find itself again rather promptly and the overall journey is a more than worthy sequel that should not disappoint. Slickly guided along its explosive course by director Matthew Vaughn who also helmed the first film, his passionate guidance is tremendously complimented by a star studded cast that never disappoints including Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Halle Berry and many more. Anyone who enjoyed the first film will definitely want to try and make a point of giving ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ a watch when you’re able to find the opportunity, it’s an incredibly gorgeous and fun sequel overloaded with plenty of slick, bloody action and laughs that fans of its predecessor won’t even want to consider overlooking. It should have no trouble whatsoever proving itself more than worthy of your time and the cost of a rental if nothing else, although folks who never caught the first film ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ will want to make sure they check that one out prior in order to fully appreciate and better follow the sequel.

Overall, ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ certainly manages to deliver plenty of the over the top, stylish action and hilarity that made its predecessor so charming and enjoyable, while naturally also significantly upping the ante without sacrificing the heart and easygoing demeanor that helped to make the first entry so spectacular. Although the long runtime and somewhat overstuffed plot do cause it to mildly stumble at times, yet never in a manner it can’t largely recover from once it catches its footing which it always eventually does. One thing is for certain, it definitely offers up plenty of laughs and grin-inducing action and should easily please fans of the first. ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ is definitely recommended, especially for fans of the first movie who won’t want to dream of missing out on this incredibly fun follow up. It may suffer a few hiccups throughout, but as a whole never fails to redeem itself while giving fans almost everything they might desire in a sequel. Those who haven’t had the pleasure of the first film though will want to strongly consider starting there as jumping directly into the sequel is liable to leave you at least moderately confused.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.39:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks spectacular as a whole and provides a sharp, colorful and detailed presentation from start to finish, with no notable faults to be found within. It holds up impressively even during the numerous fast moving and darkly lit sequences, never causing anything occurring on screen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, this is a more than capable high definition video presentation from Fox Home Entertainment that should easily please the fans.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack delivers a crisp, clean and notably aggressive audio presentation throughout. It constantly takes full advantage of all seven available channels in order to send a nearly constant swarm of activity throughout the various speakers, with everything from bullets, music, vehicle activity and much regularly zipping around, while always making certain that any dialogue or additional audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously remain clean and fully audible. Overall, this is an outstanding 7.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtrack that perfectly complements the film and contributes a great deal of additional fun to the overall viewing experience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ includes some noteworthy extras that fans should thoroughly enjoy. Included on the release is an in-depth Behind the Scenes Feature ‘Kingsman: Inside The Golden Circle’ (running approximately 1 hour, 57 minutes in length) that explores bringing the sequel to life and includes interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. We are also treated a behind the scenes Featurette ‘Black Cab Chaos: Anatomy of a Killer Chase’ (running approximately 13 minutes) and the ‘Kingsman Archives’ which is comprised of various still images including Concept Art for the Sets and Costumes, along with numerous addition stills. ‘2 Theatrical Red Band Trailers’ for the movie (approximately 4 minutes combined) are also included.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10

‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD from 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment

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