‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ Review: Controversial Sex Scene Aside, Film Still Tugs At The Heartstrings

“Manners maketh man,” was one of the pillars of Kingsman: The Secret Service, the cool and slick ode to gentleman spy films such as James Bond. In its follow up, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, director and producer Matthew Vaughn delivers the same recipe, but with an upgrade that includes Kingsman’s American cousins and a little Southern hospitality.

Viewers wouldn’t feel the three-year gap between the 2014 original and the 2017 sequel as The Golden Circle immediately dives into the world of espionage and Taron Egerton’s Eggsy kicking a villain’s butt within the first few minutes of the movie. It’s almost as if it was a brief summary of what’s to come: an explosive concoction of everything that was amazing about the first movie and more.

In Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the British spy organization falls under attack. Its entire headquarters get blown up and all its agents and employees are killed—save, of course, for Eggsy and Mark Strong’s Merlin.

Kingsman’s Doomsday Protocol brings them to Statesman, which is basically the American counterpart of the former. While both organizations operate in a similar fashion, Statesman prides itself in having noticeably larger resources. They’re like Kingsman, but more loaded. At one point in the film, Jeff Bridges’ Agent Champagne, head of Statesman, explains that they’re richer because the liquor business is far more lucrative than the clothing industry (a bespoke tailoring business at that).

As both Kingsman and Statesman join forces to learn more about The Golden Circle, the powerful yet super incognito drug ring led by Julianne Moore’s Poppy, new tricks and gadgets were exhibited—one of this leads to the film’s (or the entire franchise’s so far) most uncomfortable scenes ever.

For their first mission together, Eggsy and Pedro Pascal’s Agent Whiskey head to the Glastonbury Festival to get more info on The Golden Circle. The target is Clara, portrayed by Poppy Delevingne, who is a member of The Golden Circle. Those familiar with tracking devices in spy movies know a handful of ways it can be attached to a target. Statesman, however, has found a more unconventional way of injecting a tracking device on a target.

Eggsy was tasked with placing the tracking device in an intimate location in Clara’s body with the help of what appeared to be a finger condom. The scene makes way for a graphic shot of Clara’s body and the actual doing of the deed (sort of), which a lot of viewers have taken issue with.

In an interview with Screen Rant, Egerton defended the film from criticism, stating that making viewers uncomfortable was Vaughn’s intention.

“It’s what Matthew [Vaughn] does, it’s his signature thing. He likes to do something that shocks… And, you know, it’s not to everyone’s tastes, but it certainly gets people talking. All it is is explicitly showing what Bond alludes to and says in a double entendre kind of way.”

So if you cringed during that scene, it was purely intentional. Kingsman: The Golden Circle (or at least Vaughn) has just cleared its objective.

With so much star power commanding the film—including franchise newcomers Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, and Pedro Pascal—you’d think the young Egerton would get lost in the background. However, and thankfully for Kingsman fans, such wasn’t the case and the 27-year-old Welsh actor brilliantly outshined them all.

What’s so appealing about Egerton’s Eggsy is that even though he’s already a well-oiled machine in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, he’s still pretty much a grounded young boy who looks up to Firth’s Harry Hart. He’s fiercely loyal not just to Harry and Kingsman, but also to his girlfriend, Princess Tilde (Hanna Alström). Eggsy puts a lot of heart in the film and the idea of espionage in general.

The film’s ending shows that there’s still a lot more to come from Kingsman and Stateman’s partnership. A Kingsman 3 is already in the works and Vaughn told Screen Rant that they already have a “big plan.”

So what’s next for Eggsy? For now, he gets to go home to the love of his life, Princess Tilde. As for the rest of Kingsman and Statesman, this new chapter in their lives as brother-organizations has only just begun.

[Featured Image by Chris Jackson/Getty Images]