Argylle: A Interesting Kingsman
At first, I was very skeptical about this movie. And I still am, even after seeing it twice. So, here are my overall thoughts, from the shots to the music to the cast. It’s a lot, even for an Apple Original Film.
First, let’s talk about the cast. First, I want to congratulate Matthew Vaughn for pulling this off. Coming away from Kingsman and entering the universe of Kingsman had to be a little tricky. So, congratulations to him. Now, Bryce Dallas Howard plays our protagonist, Elly Conway. Dua Lipa is in this and plays a short, sweet, to-the-point role. Henry Cavill plays Argylle, who is the big shot in the movie. Sam Rockwell plays Aidan. John Cena, Ariana DeBose, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, and Catherine O’Hara are also in this. And to be honest, everyone played a perfect role. I thoroughly enjoyed each of these roles. My problem is that they got a not-so-great script. In my opinion, the cast is perfect. You have many big names in a movie, and they want to hold them to your standards. And in some ways, they did. However, the script they received isn’t the best. And I wish they had gotten a better one.
This film is shot like an Apple Original. I got some indication that they decided to shoot it with an iPhone. And I’m sorry, but that’s not good in the film industry. Now, yes, you can tell when they were filming off of the Macs, but there are several shots that I thought and can see some indication that it wasn’t a film camera. However, some of the best scenes were shot with a camera and may have been altered in some way. Also, one of the more exciting scenes is the skating scene. First, was it necessary? No, and I will get to that in a moment. But how it was shot wasn’t horrible. There were several scenes like this. It was nice to look at; however, you can tell it was an Apple Film.
I have never witnessed so many plot twists in a very long time. Every scene seemed like a plot twist. It just kept going. Finding out several things that happened in just one scene is nuts. And thinking about how real yet unreal Elly’s world was is a little off-putting. The fact that the world she thought she knew was not real is problematic to understand if you don’t pay close attention. So, for the average moviegoer, this movie might feel like a trip you didn’t want to take. Like I said before, the script is something that I desperately want to read because someone had a little too much fun writing it. One example I want to bring up is the skating scene. Going back to this, this scene I’m sure was written as like this, “have fun, a bunch of skating, and chaos.” That’s exactly how this scene played out for me. This comes after another plot twist, by the way. It's this whole movie—just a bunch of plot twists. And to be honest, I enjoyed that.
Universal Studios also had its hands on this as well. And it makes so much sense. However, it didn’t recoup its investment. Argylle cost Universal and Apple $200 million. And it didn’t even make half of it back. It grossed $96 million worldwide. So it was a big fail. The first time I watched this with a few friends, we all said the same thing: “It’s an Apple Film.” “All of these plot twists!” “Ok, well, at least the cast is good.” Just a few words we all said. However, despite the film's big failure, we all enjoyed it.
As a composer, I pay close attention to the music, and I had too much fun with this music. Lorne Balfe composed this score, and it showed. He loves extensive instrumentation with a little bit of “Pop” flair to it. However, this was very jazzy, and jazz music is something I love. Think of 007. That's precisely the feeling I got, which is somehow weird. My first indication that this felt like 007 was the main song, Electric Energy, sung by Ariana DeBose, Boy George, and Nile Rodgers. And my first thought was, “GoldenEye?” That is what I thought about the whole movie and its score. And that’s ok! In some ways, I want to believe that this score was the only reason I enjoyed this movie as much as I did. Yes, it's a big highlight for me. Especially how big it sounded. Some of the action sequences featured fantastic music, with big drums, strings, and horns. Lorne also loves to put the central theme in every song, even in a different key. He also likes big synths and plenty of keys here. One of my favorite pieces is Now And Then, which is the Argylle Symphony. It's a great song that lets you hear the scale of this movie. So that’s a nice touch. As I said before, having Ariana, Boy George, and Nile Rodgers do the main song was a nice touch. This score is just a lot of fun.
Overall, this movie is a lot of fun. I encourage everyone to see it at least once. I describe this movie as a Twisty Vibe. That’s precisely what it is. There are lots of twists, but it’s a fun time. Just give yourself two hours to watch it. Pay close attention to every detail. It’s a movie that connects the dots at the end. Especially since they confirmed it is part of the Kingsman Universe. Have fun with this movie; that’s all I can say.