Greetings, friends in the Movies and TV Shows community. It's me, NomNomNoodle, your honest and trustworthy movie reviewer. Today was my first movie premiere in 2024 and I'm quite excited about "Argylle". Since I recognized many cast from their past work and lots of them, I've been quite a fan, so I'm happy to get to go to the press preview.
Argylle (2024) is a spy action comedy film directed and produced by Matthew Vaughn, and written by Jason Fuchs. With a whole lotta big actors, like Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, and many more.
I tried to dress like Henry Cavill in the movie. I put on my green jacket and I brought my grey kitty with me because I saw that in the trailer, the cutest Scottish Fold cat. It was a perfect decision because I got to cuddle him throughout the movie. 馃槉
I went to get the ticket quite early, so we got the seats in the IMAX cinema, which is an extra cinema with a bigger screen and better surround sound (than other normal cinemas). Our seats were a little on the side, but hey no complaints. 馃榿
This is how the screen actually looked through my camera. It's advertised that it's so big that it makes you feel like you're not just watching it, but being in it. That's how I felt too. The one annoying thing is it's so big, I felt like my eyes couldn't see everything on it. That's bugging me a little bit. Other than that it's all good.
Fun Fact: "Argylle" is a play on the word "Argyle", a pattern made of diamonds or lozenges. The word is sometimes used to refer to an individual diamond in the design, but more commonly refers to the overall pattern. That's why we can see this pattern all over the poster and the movie.
Now, let's start with
Elly Conway (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), the famous yet introverted and shy spy writer/novelist, lives her successful life as she published 4 books about the story of agent Argylle (played by Henry Cavill), the most handsome and the master of deception and fighting. While trying to finish her 5th book, Elly finds herself in the middle of the spy agents, who try to retrieve her, as they believe that she knows all the secrets of the underground organization.
With the help of Aiden (played by Sam Rockwell), a professional spy agent, saving her life, Elly, who is still very much confused with what's going on around her, decides to trust Aiden and help him find the way to get the master file of the organization to be in the right hand. Along the way, she had to make lots of decisions and god knows working with spies is always risky, since you never know if you can fully trust them or not.
鈿狅笍 Spoilers Alert! 鈿狅笍
Please skip the next paragraph (and continue on the Review and the Reflection part),
if you want to steer clear of spoilers.
IN THIS MOVIE, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND WATCHING THE MOVIE BEFOREHAND
! [Hidden Spoiler nr1 of Argylle] The organization/division is led by the director called Ritter (played by Bryan Cranston), who is desperate to not let the master file get hacked since it's filled with all the greatest secret that the division had done. He sent out men to get Aiden and Elly, but all is frail. (Because Aiden was that good at fighting bad guys). One night Elly overhears Aiden on speaker and decides to flee from him and go to her parents with the important evidence to find the master file.
! [Hidden Spoiler nr2 of Argylle] Elly met her parents, but Aiden came after and subdued them. Elly was devastated until Aiden took her to Alfie (played by Samuel L. Jackson). There she learned that her true self is a spy agent too and her name is Rachel Kyle (R.Kyle, get it? 馃槅). After being seriously injured in the mission, she was hypnotized by the division that the director is her dad and the psychiatrist (played by Catherine O'Hara) is her mom. She was led to believe that for 5 whole years and that's how she wrote a series of spy/agents from her unconscious mind.
! [Hidden Spoiler nr3 of Argylle] After learning the truth and getting her memories back, she came back to be the fierce and formidable agent R.Kyle. With her genius mind combined with hidden and experienced combat skills, she was at last able to get the master file and send it to the right person, Alfie. After that, she went back to live just a normal life as a writer with new old friends beside her.
Now it's time for...
It's a 2.30-hour movie and I was absolutely entertained. Overall, the vibe of the movie came off so strong that it's the same production as the Kingsman team. I have to salute Matthew Vaughn, the director that able to create such a fun and visually satisfying movie like this one.
If I could compare this movie with food, I'd say that it's a delicious dish with a variety of flavors that just blend well together. Right amount of action and comedy with a hint of little romance and self-realization. The thing, I'm most impressed with is that the plot twist is so twisted-mind that it kept me on the edge of my seat.
As I said it's visually satisfying, it's because (1) I have a thing for colorful and vibrant cinematic images and this movie definitely achieved that and (2) the choreography in the action scene is beyond amazing and there were more than 1, so I can't even ask for more.
The casting is all great. Howard had portrayed multiple of Elly and in every scene, I believe her. I just think she always had this likability that draws me to keep my eyes on her. That's why throughout the movie that has her as a main character, I wouldn't mind it at all.
The other supporting cast was absolutely great though! They had great chemistry and made it enjoyable to wonder what they're gonna do next in the scene. I'd love to shout out to Cranston, as he played out his character in a little psycho and I loved it.
The character of Rockwell, on the other hand, wasn't really impressive for me. One big point is I didn't know him not his work much before, so I was ok with it, but it didn't stand out or anything to me.
In Summary, it was an amusing action movie with a great cast and amazing pictures and scenes, but most of all the story line is very fun to follow. So I'd recommend it, especially if you like a movie like Kingsman.
You all know my last part is...
Back to the quote in the beginning says, "The greater the spy, the bigger the lie" " It got me wondering about trust and deception. I think the movie portrayed the normal world with lies, by accentuating through a deceitful profession like spy agent. But in real life, I believe we can't deny that lying is a part of nature.
It got me thinking, is lying a good thing? Since we were kids, we have been taught how not to lie, and that speaking the truth will only do you good and set you free. But the question is, as one grows up, is it that easy to define what's good and bad? In this case, if you're a great liar, you can be a great spy, which sometimes, will get to go on a very important mission to save the world. So, in this case, not lying and being openly honest wouldn't complete the mission and it could become a disaster.
So, I believed there's no good or bad, only truth, especially the ones that matter. Sometimes, one thing that you used to define that it's bad, in other situations, it could be your only best solution. As I took this lesson in, I learned or more frankly speaking I try not to judge nor use my old experiences to direct things in my life. I think it's important to learn to look more what's the surrounding situation at the time and make the best out of it. Because the best, that's the only thing you can do.
PS. All the official movie photos are from source
That's a wrap for my #nomnommovie review post for today, everybody. I hope you're still with me here. If you are, please feel free to leave comments to let me know or discuss film theory with me. Til next time...
Let's stay supportive of the entertainment industry and keep watching great movies, guys
Khob khun kaa,
Nomnomnoodle 馃崪
