The announcement of Matthew Vaughn’s follow up to his surprise smash-hit Kingsman: The Secret Service, was met with pretty much no resistance; it is a rare case of a sequel being sought out and recognsised by audiences as being more than a money grab, but a continuation of something clearly set up in the first film, with the potential to go on for multiple films. It was a clearly set-up spy franchise, but one of its own kind. This follow up is a worthy one, but falls into many traps that plague sequels, but manages to survive them to end up with a blast of a film.

The film begins with a huge blow to the Kingsman organisation that wipes out most of their members and property, just as they were becoming aware of a new global threat. As a result of the destruction, the Kingsman are forced to team up with their equivalents across the pond: The Statesman. There, they come to realise the nature of this new threat: recreational drugs poisoned by druglord Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore), in an attempt to hold the world hostage by requiring all drugs to be legalized before any remedy to the poison is released. To provide any more details would be to spoil it, but, rest assured, many jokes and action sequences follow.

After a brilliantly shot thrill ride of an opening sequence, featuring a cab chase through the streets of London, and culminating in a rather blatant James Bond homage, you are welcomed back into the fold of the world of Kingsman, instantly reminding you that you are in the territory of ‘proper spy movies’, as the tagline suggests, not grounded in the realism we have come to expect in modern cinema. It reminds you of how gleefully preposterous Vaughn’s world is, a hallmark that heavily features here, but not in as well-executed a fashion as in the first film. You have to accept that this film revels in the ridiculous, but even so it sometimes goes so far (and begins to lose its self-aware edge) that it becomes a little too silly. One such moment is in the way Colin Firth’s Harry is returned to us – how he is revived is a little too outlandish, and also lowers the stakes of the rest of the film if you can so easily beat death. It almost appears as though his return wasn’t planned when they wrote the first film.

The first half, save for the first sequence, doesn’t really feel very Kingsman overall. It feels a little more like the generic, action-comedy, with less of the creativity and charm (especially in the action) that made the first film so distinct. The lack of the central relationship that cultivated a more emotional, character-centric heart to the frst film, is also missing here, and it only slightly starts to revive upon the increased presence of Harry. It is still very entertaining, but doesn’t quite feel like the right tone.

However, the film really picks up in the second half as it begins to hit its stride. The final fight scenes are the best parts of the film, imbued with the humour and creative touches that feel more Kingsman again. The action is also still ultra-violent, and filmed in Vaughn’s great whip-pan-heavy way. It also features fun throwbacks to the first film, admittedly sometimes a little heavy handed, but always entertaining. There are also still the occasional crude moments, where the shock factor seems turned up to 11, which will either disgust or delight you, but probably make you cringe either way. The main scene surrounding this, does feature a great, original, self-aware riff on spy films (and lightly mocking them, in turn), where Eggsy (Taron Egerton) has to ring up his girlfriend to ask if it is okay for him to seduce this woman, in order to save the world.

The film is stacked full of stars, and likely features even more Oscar-winners than any prestige picture this year (Moore, Firth, Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry and Elton John). The returning cast all step seamlessly back into their roles, and the new faces (also including Channing Tatum and Pedro Pascal) bring something new and fresh. Egerton is great again as Eggsy; now a full Kingsman, but still maintaining his roots (even if the scenes back in East London do feel a little false), and Firth delightful as Harry, with new angles to play given his circumstances. Mark Strong is also given more to do here as Merlin, and helps to balance some of the ridiculousness. Moore is deliciously evil as Poppy, clearly relishing in playing the villain, as she walks a tightrope of playing an amusing character (who’s operations are particularly reminiscent of the archetypal Bond villain), without falling into the trap of becoming too cartoonish. It feels as though she deserves a little more than she gets to do by the end. Elton John is also absolutely hilarious and used to great effect, but it feels as though his (and Firth’s) parts could have had more impact had they been a surprise. A lot of the Statesman aren’t given a lot to do, some being peculiarly sidelined not long after introductions that suggest they are going to have a bigger part to fill, but they are an interesting addition. The culture clashes are also played well, even if it does mean losing a bit of the characterizing Britishness. One of the main issues left at the end of the film, is that newly introduced characters far outnumber the ones we have become familiar with and endeared to (with some curious choices about killing off certain people), which leaves it going in a direction that feels as though it is moving further away from what it established itself as, but we’ll have to see where that ends up.

As far as entertainment goes, it delivers in droves. Even though it lacks the substance beneath the exhilarating action and laugh-out-loud moments to really live up to the first film in heart or quality, it revels in the preposterous and gives us something refreshing, certainly providing a fun time at the cinema.