I'm pleased to start off Trainer Movie Reviews with an all-time classic: Kingsman: The Golden Circle. This is almost certainly not a Great Movie, but it's a great trainer movie! I'll have more to say about the criteria later, but for now, let's dive in.
Plot synopsis: the Kingsmen from the first movie get jacked by Julianne Moore (who is just the best) and are forced to enlist the help of the American version of the Kingsmen to prevent Julianne Moore (who puts a person in a meat grinder in her first scene) from doing some bullshit plan that involves a virus and drugs. This movie really understands the role of "plot" in a trainer movie. You need to get just enough of an idea that there's some sort of conflict, and that it's important, but if you miss a bit you'll still basically know what's up. At some point late in the movie they talked about impersonating and tracking down someone from Singapore, and the next thing I knew we were starting the climax. Not sure what happened with the Singapore thing. Did not seem to matter at all. Perfect!
Who would like this: those who appreciate the humor and aesthetic which oscillates between "irreverently outlandish" and "embarrassingly adolescent." Elton John fans. People who like action movies but got a headache watching Transformers.
Pluses: lots of whiskey, visual clarity in the action scenes, lots of Julianne Moore (whose smile makes you wonder if she literally ate human beings to prepare for the role), Oberyn Martell, no training montage, fun callbacks to the first movie without just repeating the same beats.
Minuses: besides Julianne Moore (the best) not the greatest treatment of its women characters, weird small parts for Halle Berry and Channing Tatum that seemed like you didn't really need them, death of my favorite character. But mostly not many minuses.
Suggested workout pairing: I was doing a few reps of a fairly easy pyramid set, 5 minutes each in z1 through z4 and then back down. But this movie would work for anything. It's got adrenaline for anaerobic work, stimulation for long sweet spot intervals, and entertainment for endurance. The total package, really.
The Bottom Line: absolutely worth the rental fee from Google Play.
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