Kingsman: The Golden Circle

When a massive missile strike all but wipes out the Kingsman super-secret service, the lone surviving agent (Taron Egerton) and support tech (Mark Strong) investigate, leading them to Statesman, an allied American agency, and putting them all on the trail of a megalomaniacal, 1950s-nostalgic drug trafficker named Poppy (Julianne Moore) deep in the South American jungle. This sequel to 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service is even more enjoyable than the original—though like that fun-filled spy-fest, it could profit from trimming 15 or 20 minutes. The best news: Colin Firth’s Harry is back from the dead, and the Statesman staff includes Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry and Channing Tatum. Director Matthew Vaughn and his co-writer Jane Goldman expand on the Mark Miller/Dave Gibbons comic books in high style. J.L.