Taron Egerton, who stars as Eggsy in the Kingsman movies, says he felt Kingsman: The Golden Circle got "an unfair kicking" when it was critically lambasted upon its release in 2017.

Egerton, who is currently dealing with even more negative reviews for Robin Hood, made the comments on the Empire Podcast. When Egerton starred in the first film, Kingsman: The Secret Service, in 2014, he was a complete unknown. The movie was a surprise hit with critics and audiences alike, netting a 75-percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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The sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, was a different story, scoring a 52 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and claiming less impressive box office numbers. After the highs reached by the first movie, Egerton clearly didn't feel good about the negative response to the second.

"I think in some respects it was because I just gave everything to it," he said. "And then it was so quickly torn down. I did feel a bit of a sting. I think in some respects it wasn’t a quite as well put together film as the first one but it certainly wasn’t a bad film."

Egerton expressed his hope that the third movie, a prequel that he will not appear in, will be more successful than the second film.

The third movie, Kingsman: The Great Game, is scheduled to premiere on Nov. 9, 2019.

(via The Playlist)