“Kingsman: The Golden Circle” was released in theaters on Sept. 22 to the joy of its sequel asking fans and the chagrin of many critics. The film, lasting 141 minutes and uncut, left much to be desired in the way of characterization of both its new and old characters. This honestly left the viewer wondering what the point of some of the new characters were for, if not just for the actors’ name value.

For example, you have Channing Tatum whose running screen time seems to be as long as the films trailer after you meet him, the rest of the time he is on screen he is lying in a bed of ice. Halle Berry’s character “Ginger,” who played Mark Strong’s “Merlin” American counterpart also had limited screen time, though better strategically placed to make it seem otherwise, and when she was seen she took a backseat to Merlin.

Some new characters seemed to be brought in, or back, simply for the sake of killing them off like in the case of (SPOILER ALERT) Brandon (Calvin Demba) and the lovely Roxy (Sophie Cookson), whom I’m still convinced will be back for the threequel.

The humor was still as good as the first if not improved in the style of the paradoxical context of the film. Some of the more unsavory jokes of the last film were given a nod to in the sequel and some fell flat with its clichéd “ball and chain” image of marriage. One scene in particular, with a certain tracking device being implanted, seemed intent on causing controversy much like in its predecessor, which the film could have done fine without. A factor audience members were glad to see again were the action fight scenes done seemingly in one shot which definitely brought back fond memories of the infamous church scene.

One of the more interesting forms of humor was in its way of satire and social commentary, with topics like feminism, politics, and the war on drugs. Though, it must be said with all the crazy and stretched possibilities of some of the scenes, like a ski lift falling from very high up only to be stalled from crushing some elderly gentlemen with a lasso, the most unbelievable part was the president getting impeached.

Speaking of unbelievable humor Elton John’s performance sparkled all the way through. The singer, who has only played himself on screen, did a magnificent job of playing a humorous and colorful version of himself.

In the way of acting the cast delivered as best as a cast full of Oscar veterans could, but “newcomer” Taron Egerton, who improved greatly and is definitely a name to watch, kept up just fine. The amazing Mark Strong was the standout of this film, however, with impressive emotive facial expressions and comedic timing, not to mention the best rendition of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, which has splattered the YouTube comments with (SPOILER ALERT) “RIP Merlin” or “Merlin brought me here”, the man can act, seriously how does this man not have an Oscar.

“Kingsman: The Golden Circle” did what it was made for, provided a fun action-packed parody of Bond and spy movies made to entertain and make an audience laugh for a couple of hours. So yes, this R rated film uses the f-word like a person breathes and the humor can be at times crass, but you get exactly what you expected and Kingsman doesn’t pretend to be anything otherwise.