Before Donald Trump decided to assign the nickname "Rocket Man" to North Korea's Kim Jong Un, there was another, much more beloved man who held that title. And, after seeing the Elton John cameo in Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the president might start to rethink using it for his own purposes. See, the famous singer's role in Kingsman 2 isn't just a walk on role played for laughs, or a grand musical cue, it's actually a superhero-worthy origin story, the likes of which only Kingsman could provide. Spoilers ahead!
Elton John plays himself in Kingsman 2, but don't expect him to be sitting at the piano. At least, not all the time. The singer appears multiple times throughout the film. In fact, he's more of a supporting character than just a cameo performer. In The Golden Circle, John finds himself in the middle of new villain Poppy's evil plan to take over the world. Along with being a drug kingpin, Poppy, as played by Julianne Moore, is apparently a big fan. So much so that she kidnaps John to use as her own personal piano man. Throughout the film, John is seen in captivity, doing drugs with Poppy's henchmen, playing Gershwin and his own original songs (in his classic costumes) on command. While the rest of the world wonders at the mysterious disappearance of the Elton John, he's tucked away like a circus monkey.
John's standout moment in the Kingsman sequel comes towards the end of the film. Poppy has forced a humiliated John to wear a ridiculous parrot costume to perform for her, but then hope arrives in the form of Harry (Colin Firth) and Eggsy (Taron Egerton), who have come for Poppy. All of a sudden, John is unleashed. He fights and defeats three men all while wearing the parrot suit — he even performs a surprisingly limber high kick to do the job. And that's not all. He then teams up with Harry (yes, Colin Firth and Elton John together) to take apart one of Poppy's robot dogs. Harry asks John for tickets to a show in return for saving the world (I guess even super spies have a hard time getting into an Elton John concert), and Elton responds with a flirty promise of backstage passes, complete with a wink and the blowing of a kiss.
John's cameo has been a longtime coming. Writer-director Matthew Vaughn originally approached him with an offer to be in the first film, only to be turned down. "And then he saw Kingsman 1 and said, 'My God, I'm a bloody ingrate,'" Vaughn told CinemaBlend. "I said I'd love you to be in Kingsman 2, and he just said, 'Tell me where and when, and I'm there.' And he turned up, and he was the most professional, lovely human being." The director went on to call John "a serious man who doesn't take himself seriously," which definitely explains the outrageous parrot costume.
John was, obviously, a hit with the cast. Firth described working with the legend as a "pinch yourself, once in a lifetime thing" in an interview with the AP, via USA Today. But he was also a hit with the fans. Audiences lucky enough to have seen the film have praised John's performance, declaring him the breakout of the entire movie.
According to IMDB, John doesn't have any more movie roles in the works, but I'm guessing that will change once people see his work in Kingsman: The Colden Circle. (Maybe Kingsman 3?) At the very least, I expect John to pick up a whole generation of new fans, and a new appreciate from action movie lovers.
