Kingsman: The Golden Circle- British meets American Intelligence

"Manners... maketh... man. Let me translate that for you." - Whiskey.

Several days ago alongside my girlfriend and brother, we took in a late evening show of the latest action spy film from 20th Century Fox, Kingsman: The Golden Circle. 

The movie was enjoyable enough, it had many of the same earmarks of the first movie, action, spy drama, and many returning characters in addition to new ones. There was sadly a lot of problems with it too, such as the newer characters not getting much in the way of backstory, plus a plot that felt a lot more loose in some respects.

Matthew Vaughn does a decent enough job as director. His forays into other comic book related properties include Kick-Ass, Kingsman and X-Men: First Class. However this time around his directing takes a different spin, going more in favor of a Michael Bay style. Meaning that while there is a story, it is pushed aside in favor of stylized action sequences that while nice to look at, don't do much in the way of advancing things. It doesn't help that this is a sequel movie based off a comic book series that for the longest time, didn't have a follow up until recent months.

Taron Egerton's return as Eggsy is very welcome however. His character has a lot of strong growth throughout the movie, both in his role as spy and on a personal level (no spoilers here). He is also sporting that spiffy orange tuxedo seen in trailers and on posters, plus a lot of new Kingsman gadgets, as well as some toys from the organization's American cousins, the Statesmen.

Statesmen, an independent American spy group that all have a heavy cowboy/rancher motif going, not to mention using six-gun, lassos, whips etc. as their main field weapons. It almost feels like Vaughn took elements from old John Wayne movies and glued them together with James Bond elements, with this being the end result. That's not to say that the group isn't bad. Jeff Bridges as the head of the team is a fun choice, plus Halle Berry as the American version of Mark Strong's character Merlin. Channing Tatum and Pedro Pascal are the two main field agents, and while both of them have cool outfits and awesome fighting styles, they don't really have anything in the way of backstories. None of the group do, which is one of the biggest things that threw me off and causes the movie to fall short of expectations.

  

On the other hand, both Colin Firth and Mark Strong returning to their roles of Harry and Merlin did exceptional. They are already top notch actors so coming back to roles that already have given them more acclaim, is somewhat like getting back on a bicycle, but adding new shocks to change things up. In this case the shocks being more character development for each of them, making their roles stronger.

For the villain, Julianne Moore steps into the ring as Poppy Adams, an international drug crime-lord looking to make a big splashy reveal to the world. Not unlike Samuel L. Jackson's performance of Richmond Valentine, Poppy is very thematic foe, on par with James Bond rogues of old. Her mission, a twisted agenda that includes what can be likened to a form of global control (though not in the way one would expect).

Old faces returning and new faces coming in make this a fun movie. And the fighting/spy action is great to watch. But there is still that issue of the Statesmen characters not having a very strong background or backstory, they are just the American equivalent of Kingsmen. Another big issue is that Sophie Cookson's role of Roxy Morton/Lancelot is really given next to nothing this time around. There is a lot of potential for her character and its utterly wasted. It's almost as if Matthew Vaughn cared so little for what her performance could bring to the movie, he chose to sideline her almost immediately.

Despite the action and excitement of there being a sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle doesn't totally come up to the line on the same level as its predecessor. It's a fine and dandy piece of work to be sure, but there's so much more that could have been done with it. I still encourage everyone to see it, but my rating for this one is going to have to be 3 stars out of 5 for the various detraction's I mentioned earlier. 

It Chapter 1: Pennywise Gets Inside Your Heads

"Derry is not like any town I've been in before. People die or disappear, six times the national average. And that's just grown ups. Kids are worse. Way, way worse." - Ben Hanscom. 

Last week I and my girlfriend and some of our friends, took in a late showing of the latest Stephen King film adaptation, It: Chapter 1. This is the beginning of what is now a re-surged interest in making movies out of Stephen King's books, only now also upping the intensity and violence and drama. 

Directed by Andy Muschietti, this movie is in many ways a lot of what was already seen back in the 1990s when Tim Curry played the role of Pennywise, only ten times more of everything that was seen decades ago. Andy seems to really understand that in the modern market of horror movies and films that sell scary and violence, that for an undertaking such as this there needs to be a balance of plot/character development alongside the shock value. He achieves this in two ways, the first being a highly faithful to the source material script, and a cast that really makes these characters come to life.

Stephen King's books are well known the world over. Movies like made about them like The Shining, Cujo, Shawshank Redemption etc. are excellent examples of taking his many books and having Hollywood take a crack at them. But this new adaptation of It, sticks to the book even more so then the 1990s mini-series even did. Some elements are absent (reading the book will provide an understanding of why) in order to compress for time, but this doesn't take away from the overall story. Some of the best elements are the scenes where Pennywise really scares the kids, and the scenes where the kids are themselves and also start to take the inevitable stand against that monster clown. All in all, this script is really spot on. It helps that there was amazing cast to go along with it.

Bill Skarsgård was scary as scary can get. Where Tim Curry's portrayal of It/Pennywise was one that was approachable, Bill's was similar but also even more scary and disturbing. This was achieved partly due to stellar special effects and also Bill's abilities as an actor. He really knows how to take the disturbing nature of the character and make It even more frightening with things like the laugh, zany movements, plus that special effects budget that brings the terrors of It to life. And if you think Bill being cast as It/Pennywise was good, the kids who play the Losers are just as on par. 

One of the things that makes the movie great is the kids. This is a group of 7 different people, with different acting styles, different personalities, different everything. Each one of them gets a very equal portion of screen-time. There is quite frankly no easy way to in depth about each one, because each of them does such a fabulous job. For the newcomers to the big world of Hollywood, they are going to go far if they keep up the level of professional they brought to these roles. For already noted members of the group who are already big name stars, being a part of this movie will only serve to anchor their careers and get them attached to more great movies.

Like any movie, there is an underlying theme, sometimes it is obvious and sometimes it is not. For It: Chapter 1, that theme is fear and facing it head on. Every single one of the kids is afraid of something, and of course It/Pennywise exploits those fears and try's to take them down and feed on them like other poor victims over the years. But this time, there is resistance, due to that magical but very sincere power of friendship that binds the Losers together for making a final stand against their twisted foe. 

And with this being part 1, fans who are just discovering this movie and those who are already devoted Stephen King fans will flock to theaters all over when It: Chapter 2 makes its way onto the big screen eventually. But there's a lot of interesting questions now. Who will be cast to play the Losers all grown up? How faithful will the second part be to the book? Will there perhaps be even bigger and scarier special effects then the current movie? All of these and more will be answered when It: Chapter 2 gets made and is brought to life.

As far as modern horror/scary movies go, this one was pretty darn great. Yes there is lots of thrills and scares for a good chunk of the plot that will leave people wigging out, but there is also the faithful script and great casting to make it an enjoyable fright delight. Halloween is only weeks away, so why not get in the spirit of the season by kicking back and seeing It: Chapter 1. After all, we all float down here, and you should float down too.