A self-indulgent R-rated action sequel throws everything at the wall to see what sticks on Disney Plus

Creative freedom can be both a blessing and a curse, but it’s not difficult to figure out which side of the divide Matthew Vaughn leaned into when it came to crafting blockbuster sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

The second installment in the offbeat espionage franchise may have scored an almost identical box office tally compared to its predecessor after topping out at a stellar $411 million, but the wheels were already beginning to wobble. It felt as though the film was trying too hard to be outrageous, and that self-indulgence became a recurring problem across the mind and butt-numbing 141-minute running time.

To be fair, The Golden Circle had lost the element of surprise that made predecessor The Secret Service such a breath of fresh air, so the obvious counterpoint on Vaughn’s part was to go for broke in terms of sheer excess. Some of it landed, a lot of it didn’t, and there was simply too much going on at all times. The kitchen sink approach rarely works, and the apathetic response to prequel The King’s Man hints that the entire universe might be running out of gas.

Regardless, the sophomore outing for Taron Egerton’s Eggsy is proving to be mighty popular with Disney Plus subscribers after running and gunning its way back onto the platform’s worldwide watch-list, per FlixPatrol. An assault on the senses in both the best and worst way’s depending on which scene we’re talking about, stopping to catch a breath every once in a while would have benefited the end product immensely.