Kingsman: The Golden Circle isn’t a film Matthew Vaughn had in him. It’s a film that was squeezed out of him, perhaps as leverage for something he has real passion for. It’s his weakest one, by far – his best, in my unconventional opinion, is his other, more minor Mark Millar comic adaptation, Kick-Ass. There’s none of the exuberance, none of the tongue-in-cheek wit, and none of the subversive charm one associates with a Matthew Vaughn film to be seen here. Were Kingsman a more established property, fandom would be picketing Twitter and calling for boycotts by now.

Pedro Pascal is surprise package of this strictly okay film…

Each step along the treacherous path needs to be placed with utmost caution because lush landscapes and effable casts are great motivators to make a film but a few steps in the wrong direction leave an explosion of undercooked sub-plots, extended runtimes and unthreatening villains that the movie might not recover from.