Posted in: Conventions, Current News, Movies, san diego comic con | Tagged: film, HRL, kingsman, kingsman 2, kingsman 2: the golden circle, movies, san diego comic con, sdcc, sdcc 2017, the golden circle

Eggsy Meets Archer In Animated Short Introducing 'Kingsman: The Golden Circle' Panel

Bleeding Cool reporter Adam J. Hart writes:

This year, the very first panel in Hall H was supposed to be the Twentieth Century Fox panel. I was wishing that maybe I'd get a chance to see some hot Deadpool 2 clips ('cause they've been filming for at least a month now), or maybe I'd see a teaser for Shane Black's The Predator.

Sadly, none of that happened. It didn't happen because pretty much at the last second Fox exclusively made it a Kingsman: The Golden Circle panel. However, this was not a bad thing. Kingsman: The Secret Service was an action-packed adrenaline thrill ride of awesomeness! So I figured this one should be equally as awesome.

The panel started out on a high note. It started with a video clip, but not your typical one — this one, I assume, is not a part of the flick. The clip is animated, and sees Eggsy running into another beloved secret agent:

The clip ended, and Jonathan Ross came out as the panel's moderator. He told us that director Matthew Vaughn couldn't be there today because he was too busy editing the movies; but Vaughan filmed a video for us, in which he tells the audience they're about to see the opening of the movie.

The 1st clip from the film was the opening scene. Eggsy walks out of the Kingsman's tailor shop, and under it reads "Golden Circle". Eggsy is met by his old friend Charlie, who pulls a gun out on him. Charlie tells him to get in a cab (three ominous cars pull up), but Eggsy gets in his own car and Charlie follows him.

An epic fight breaks out in the car. At one point, Eggsy is hanging out of the car on a door while oncoming traffic nears him. So Eggsy leaps over it, the car's door flies off, Eggsy leaps onto it, maneuvering himself into the car's trunk. He cuts through the back seat and the fight continues.

A blade pops out of Eggsy's shoe, but Charlie knocks it off. The blade flies into the driver's neck, killing him. The car crashes, Charlie flies out of the car through the windshield, and Eggsy takes control of the car and speeds away.

The three cabs following him bust out torrent guns from their roofs and begin shooting at Eggsy. Eggsy contacts Merlin and asks if he can fire at them. He is denied, due to all of the civilians in the area. So Eggsy drives through a park and gets the OK to unload on the cabs. He shoots down three heat-seeking missiles and blows up the cabs.

Now the cops are after him, and his only exit is driving into the ocean. Merlin makes a joke about how good Eggsy is at holding his breath underwater (a callback from the first movie), and Eggsy drives into the ocean and it turns into an underwater car. The scene ends.

The crowd lost their minds over this footage, because it was admittedly pretty epic. But what happened next was even better. The cast came out and we got to see Taron Egerton, Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry, Channing Tatum, Pedro Pascal, oh, and some guy by the name of Colin Firth! It was an all-star lineup for us.

But those weren't the only people that came out for the panel. We also got to see comics creator Dave Gibbons, who even did a great sketch of Egerton as Eggsy really quickly and gave it to one lucky fan. We also got to see the movie's screenwriter Jane Goldman, who said she loved to create the Statesman (the American equivalent to the Kingsman.)

We found out that not only did Egerton perform the underwater driving scene for real, but he also sustained minor injuries on set (but he didn't mind, since the movie was so fun to make.) We also found out that Tatum loved the first movie so much that he begged to be in this one. When Firth was asked if he was shocked that his character wasn't dead anymore, he said, "I guess I'm in the trailer and I'm shaving; I love to shave, I shave for a while in this. That's all I can really say. " That got a thunderous applause and laughter from the audience.

Berry joked that her character Ginger Ale is a mixer because she's a mixed-race woman. That got a big laugh, too. She told us that Ginger is like Mark's character: "She is a techy nerdy Statesman with hidden depths."

Pascal said his character Whiskey is a stereotypical cowboy. He said he trained for four months with a lasso and bullwhip (which Bridges said he simply calls a rope). According to Pascal, he mastered the whip.

Next up, Bridges explained that he plays the head of the Statesman named Champagne, but he prefers to be called Champ. He also says Champ has many vices such as whiskey (which he doesn't drink, he just sniffs) and big fat cigars (that he lights, but only smells), but he only uses their unique scents as cologne. All and all, he is a rough-tough man who deals with his many challenges like a real man.

The next clip they screened takes place in Kentucky at the Statesman's distillery. Eggsy and Merlin are taking a tour of the place, and sneak off from the tour. They find a hidden room that they go into. It looks like a simple distillery area, but Merlin thinks that there's a hidden entrance behind a barrel — so he takes an axe and swings at it. Before he can pull the axe out, Tatum's character Agent Tequila enters and questions why they are there. Eggsy explains who they are and that they need the Statesman's help, but Tequila doesn't believe them, and a giant fight breaks out. The action is intense and fast-paced. Tequila effortlessly knocks out Merlin and uses a sleep dart to knock out Eggsy. Then the clip ends.

Firth admits that he has a great bond with Egerton. He went on to say that it's important to have characters that people love and can connect to. Goldman said that's one thing that made her interested in writing this movie, because everyone already knows and loves the world that was set up in the first movie.

Next, the cast were all handed a glass of whiskey. It's worth noting that Tatum filled up Berry's glass halfway (everyone else took a shot's worth), and like a pro, Berry downed the whiskey in one quick chug. It was pretty awesome, and everyone applauded for the superstar. Someone asked Bridges if his character The Dude would like drinking all the whiskey that the Statesmen make, and Bridges said The Dude much more prefers vodka.

Then there was the audience Q&A. Someone asked what's more British: the Kingsman or 007? Everyone immediately looked at the former Bond girl, and her response was "That's an unfair question, I can't answer that." Another person asked roughly what the runtime of the movie will be, and Egerton said probably 2 1/4 hours.

There were a few more questions, but the last clip shown was much more exciting. It started off moving though a jungle with a voiceover from Julianne Moore's character Poppy talking about being the biggest cartel kingpin in the world. Then we see ancient ruins that have been turned into a nostalgic '50s-style town.

The bulk of the scene takes place in Poppy's diner. She's talking to two henchmen about loyalty and seeing results. She questions one henchman, who has a golden circle branded into his chest. As she does this, she turns on a meat grinder. The henchman tries to run away, but two high-tech robot dogs stop him, and the other henchman grabs him and feeds him through the meat grinder. He is turned into hamburger meat.

Poppy tells the surviving henchman that he has done a good job. She sends him across the street to the salon for a makeover. Before he leaves, Poppy balls up some human meat and slaps it on a griddle. At the salon, the goon gets a smelted golden circle branded on his chest.

He returns to the diner, where Poppy has a perfectly delicious burger ready for him. She tells him to eat it. He is a bit hesitant, but he downs it anyway. Poppy welcomes him to "The Golden Circle" and the scene ends. After that, the moderator joked that we'd be able to get free Poppy burgers across the street at the Hard Rock later in the day.

Overall, the Kingsman: The Golden Circle panel was a great start to this year's Comic-Con!

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!