Better Never Than Late on "The Kingsman"

Over the weekend we watched the two sequels to the movie "Kingsman". Let’s discuss.

I liked the first movie quite a bit. My wife did too. It is fun, gross, funny, action packed and has some good music. The story is also well done. As is the directing and acting. Colin Firth is really amazing in this movie. It is a departure for him, and he totally crushes it. He is the true star of it to me.

The second movie is okay. It is a solid sequel. It keeps the fun and ups the gore. The addition of Julianne Moore was solid as well. She chews the scenery, but that is what I assumed they asked her to do. The meat grinder in her village is wild too. But, it is not as good as the original. Most sequels aren't as good as the originals. There are exceptions, but the second "Kingsman" is not one of them. But still, I enjoyed my time watching the movie.

The newest one, a prequel called "The King's Man", was unnecessary. It is streaming on HBO Max and we had a free night at home Saturday. My wife really wanted to watch it to complete the trilogy, so we watched it. This movie is so different from the first two. There is no more of the fun. This one takes itself incredibly seriously. I don't know that I could pick out one single joke from the whole two plus hours. That is to be expected when Ralph Fiennes is the star of your movie, but he proved in "The Menu" that he can do jokes. He has decent comedic timing. But he is a more serious actor. But why place him as the lead in a movie trilogy that is supposed to be loud and goofy and silly and violent? That was miscasting in my opinion.

The story is also weird and hard to follow. There is a family in the beginning and the wife gets killed. Common story. But instead of going into the whole spy world thing that "Kingsman" has become known for, they focus on war. This is pretty much a straight ahead war movie. I did not expect that, and for me, it did not work. They have some wild follies, but even they came off as boring. Each bad guy was bland, except for Rhy Ifans. He played Rasputin and I feel like he was the only one that had seen the previous movies. He looked to be having the time of his life, but it also made him feel wildly out of place. He does have the best fight scene in the movie too, but it happens so fast and so early that by the end I had forgotten he was in the movie at all. The plot with Fiennes and his kid was so after school special-y as well. He wanted to go to war, his dad wanted to protect him, his dad loosened the strings and then his son, spoiler alert, dies carelessly in the war. It was so odd and felt like it was in a totally different movie. Even as they build the whole spy world, far too late in the movie, it felt tacked on. It felt like Matthew Vaughan, a director I really like, forgot what movie he was making until the very last few minutes. The major fight scene at the end with Fiennes and Djimonou Hounsou was boring. They also sorely under utilized Honsou. He could have been great in this movie. And then, when they were quickly wrapping things up, they tried to bring in fans of the original. They used the codenames, they gave them the look, but at that point it was far too late. They also introduced three characters, characters that seemed like they have big plans for the future, but it just fell flat.

I was not a fan of this movie. It lacked all the fun of the first movie. It lacked the gore of the second movie. They changed the tone far too much. I did not expect to see a hard war drama, but that was basically what we got. Oh well, they can't all be winners I guess. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "A Quiet Place 2"

I finally saw "A Quiet Place 2" this past Friday. It was date night, my wife had the pick of the movie and we had both wanted to see this movie. We jumped on it. It was for rent on VOD and it was on sale. It was a true win win.

I adored the first movie. I thought it was a great idea that was perfectly executed. I think it is one of the better thrillers to come out in a long, long time. The way they dealt with the world they created was perfection. It was a movie that stunned me with how good it actually ended up being. But I was on the fence about a sequel. When it was announced I asked myself why. I just did not think they needed to do it. They ended the first one the right way, it was a tremendous hit and it seemed like it had closure. I did not want a sequel. I'm not a big fan of sequels to begin with, and when you get it right, I would not mess with a good thing. Sequels never help in my opinion. But, when this one raked it in at the box office, you could sense they were going to make, at the very least, one more. So going in my expectations were not very high for "Part 2".

Just like with the first one, I was pleased at how much I found myself enjoying the movie. I was fully in on the story. I liked the fact that they went back in time to show the first day that everything went down. It was nice to see John Krasinki in the movie. I appreciate that he wrote and directed this movie. Emily Blunt is tremendous. I feel like she is a criminally underrated actor. She seems to do mostly good work, picks good projects and is really good in whatever role she is given. The kids in this movie were badass. I liked that they made them heroic. The deaf girl rules and the anxious brother comes up big for the family. I thought bringing in Cillian Murphy and Djimon Honsu was a great choice. Those two are great actors, and they brought some gravitas to this franchise. I also love that a good portion of this movie was shot during daylight. You could really see the monsters. You got a good feeling of what they looked like, how scary they actually are. You also got to see how fast and ferocious they could be. I adored the way they used noise again in this one. That is the whole thing with the deaf child and the monsters, the use of noise, and this movie pulls it off yet again. There were tense, silent moments riddled throughout the story. It was perfect. I also appreciate that this movie leans into the horror aspect a bit more. The first movie is more of a family drama/thriller. The second movie, while still dealing with family things, leans much more into the horror aspect. There are tons of jump scares. I made audible gasps at different times while watching. My wife made a few mentions that certain things scared her. It was another in a long line of solid choices from the movie makers. And, like their other decisions, worked. I was genuinely scared. I found myself rooting for the family yet again. I cheered during the conclusion. And when it was all over, and my wife and I sat down and talked about it, I told her I really enjoyed it. It was well made, well acted, had great pacing and was just all and all well done. I had low expectations, and this movie exceeded them. I do hope they stop here. They do not need to make anymore. They did it.

So, if you saw the first movie, or are a fan of the horror genre and have a general idea of the story, I recommend "A Quiet Place 2". It is a solid movie.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.