[Discussion] Did Kingsman II failed as a sequel?

I fear Matthew Vaughn has just lost his grip on the humanity that so brilliantly balanced the silly stories he likes to tell. Stardust is one of my all-time favorite movies, and Kick-Ass, X-Men First Class, and Kingsman are some of the most entertaining blockbuster flicks available, where the action is satisfyingly contextualized through excellent character work.

But his last three movies just don't have the right equation. From what I remember, Argyle started out really strongly but seriously devolved after the halfway point. I think he's indulging too much in the overwrought spectacle that he first toed the line of at the end of the first Kingsman.

Yeah, got wrapped up itself and forgot the working class pull of the first film for celebrity cameos.

It's cute that you guys are role playing. I really wish they made more Kingsman movies, but we only have the one.

I really enjoyed the second and third films, but I understand they didn't perform as well.

I've heard there was scheduling conflicts with Channing Tatum which explains some of the disjointed character arcs. I guess they'd already advertised Tatum before the conflicts, so they tried to keep him in while replacing his characters story beats with Pedro Pascal.

I was really looking forward to a long running franchise that wasn't afraid to go full tilt James Bond parody with over the top action.

From what I remember, the second one is a lot of fun. I certainly remember the part where Elton John showed up, and we thought that was hilarious.

Yep. I especially noticed the pacing of action scenes - the first movie felt far more tense because every second seemed to matter. The second one said that it's also tense, yet the characters can take ridiculously long pauses during the action for quips and so on.