The 2014 movie Kingsman: The Secret Service rested on the laurels of just a few well-known stars, some promising newcomers, a jarring sum of violence and mayhem, and the razor-sharp wit innate to the union of Mark Millar’s pen and Matthew Vaughn’s directorial eye. Shrugging off that old adage about less being more for some good old fashioned American excess, the movie’s follow-up Kingsman: The Golden Circle seems to be upping the ante on these elements wherever it can. In the first trailer for the sequel, we see more than its two-minute-long runtime’s worth of blasts and crashes, and certainly no deficit of the cheek employed by the first outing. But where The Golden Circle is really outdoing its predecessor is in its starring lineup.
The young Taron Egerton is back as Eggsy, ditto Mark Strong as the bespectacled Merlin… not to mention another returning player who’s sure to cock an eyebrow when he appears at the conclusion of the trailer, if you haven’t already heard about his being enlisted for the film. But along with this troupe of Kingsman vets are a veritable slew of familiar faces: a somewhat sinister-looking Julianne Moore, a decidedly less sinister-looking Halle Berry, a cowboy hatted Channing Tatum (who, while not particularly sinister-looking, seems bent on drumming up some trouble for our heroes), and an even cowboy hatted-er Jeff Bridges, whose sinisterness will be determined upon further examination of footage from the film.
Throwing all these well-known stars into the mix is sure to shake up the Kingsman chemistry that we all loved the first time around, and we can’t help but wonder if it’ll be for the better. While each new inductee to the franchise is talented beyond reproach–Moore stands out as one of our greatest living actors–it’s always risky when you merge such a distinct and unique aura as the one exemplified by Kingsman with larger-than-life (and, often, larger-than-the-projects-they-inhabit) actors.
Precious apprehensions notwithstanding, it’s tough not to be excited by the yet-to-be-seen prospects of a Kingsman movie starring such artistic giants as Moore, Berry, Tatum, and Bridges. What’s also exciting is an announcement made by Millar on Tuesday morning:
This would probably be a good time to mention that a new Kingsman comic starts in September too. Kingsman: The Red Diamond. More later 🙂
— Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar) April 25, 2017
Apparently, we’ll be getting a new installation of the Kingsman comic franchise ahead of the Golden Circle film, though we thus far know few details beyond its title: “The Red Diamond.” Thoughts on where Millar might take the world of Kingsman next?
Images: 20th Century Fox
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