This past September, the highly anticipated Kingsman: The Golden Circle released in theaters. Its hit predecessor, Kingsman: The Secret Service, created a firm foundation for a successful sequel. Excited audiences attended this sequel in droves, with the movie earning nearly $40 million on opening weekend and became the #1 highest grossing film for 2 weekends. This film offers another action-packed adventure, focusing more on the main character Eggsy’s (Taron Egerton) struggle between his career and personal life.

The story picks up a year after Eggsy and the secret organization Kingsman thwart Valentine’s master plan. He has taken the title of his late mentor Galahad, and lives with the Princess Tilde of Sweden (Hanna Alström), the woman that Eggsy rescues at the end of the first film. Although it received mixed reviews, the film does not live up to its potential due to its disregard to detail, lackluster acting, and frankly strange storyline.

In the opening scene of the movie, Eggsy is confronted by a man wielding a gun. The plot immediately jumps into an extensive and excessive action sequence, involving Eggsy driving underwater while holding his breath. The camera shots clearly show Eggsy with his mouth open, shifting focus from the action to the technical errors. This happens in two seperate scenes. Coupled with poor acting, the movie is difficult to watch.

After the destruction of the Kingsman headquarters and all of its agents, the only two survivors are agent Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong). Merlin reminds Eggsy that Kingsman agents do not treat these incidents personally. They discover an antique bottle of whiskey behind a secret door then decide to drink a toast for each fallen Kingsman agent, which results in them both drunkenly crying. Though attempting to be amusing, the execution is odd and uncomfortable.

The filmmakers missed an opportunity to evoke sympathy from the audience. Another example is when Kingsman agent Harry (Colin Firth), who was previously thought to be dead, is found to be suffering from amnesia. He is submerged underwater in hopes of triggering his Kingsman survival training, all without his consent. This attempt proves unsuccessful. When the agents explain to Harry why they nearly drowned him, he is completely understanding and is apologetic towards them. Inconsistencies make the characters difficult to relate to, already made difficult by the movie’s poor storyline.

The movie introduces Statesman, which is a Kentucky based secret organization. Here, the members are named after alcoholic beverages. How this movie manages to attract the likes of Channing Tatum is a mystery.

Together, Kingsman and Statesman take down Poppy (Julianne Moore), the leader of a massive drug cartel. If that is not weird enough, it gets weirder. Poppy owns a machine dedicated to grinding up people. She has a tradition of serving hamburgers made out of her workers.

This movie, much like Poppy and her hamburgers, forces the humor down your throat and is lacks in all categories. Hopefully, this movie will not warrant a Kingsman Trilogy.