It’s good to see Hollywood not shill out another sequel, prequel, or remake. The new Universal Pictures and Apple spy-thriller movie, Argylle, actually looks like a totally unheard concept in modern Hollywood: a unique, creative film.
I hope this movie is good and successful enough to show Hollywood that original, creative movies are what the people want.
After months of strikes and years of bland sequels, prequels, and remakes, Hollywood seems to have finally gotten the message that the average movie goers want to actually see creative and unique movies as Universal Pictures and Apple’s Argylle looks like a really interesting, inspired film. And, to be honest, I’m glad these types of movies are actually coming back in style.
Okay, before I start off this article, I know what some people are going to say: “This isn’t an original or creative idea! This movie is just copying the plot of The Jewel of the Nile!”. And that is broadly true as both of these films do feature reclusive, humble, and ordinary novelist that are suddenly thrust into a high-paced, high-tempo adventure. Or at least that is how The Jewel of the Nile plot broadly goes, and how Argylle appears to look like as well.
But, even though the broad beats of the story might be familiar, the novelty and risk of making a brand new, original tale is what really excites me.
Director Matthew Vaughn has taken a real risk in not only rejecting to use some existing story to make a movie on, such as setting up a sequel in the world of The Jewel of the Nile or some other spy-thriller entertainment franchise like James Bond or Jason Bourne, but he’s also adapting a first-time novelist original story.
Yes, Argylle is actually being based on the soon-to-be-released novel of the same name by first-time writer Elle Conway…who also happens to be a reclusive, humble, ordinary novelist like the main protagonist of the film. A little autobiographical, right? Well, the actual twist of the movie is a little better than that (as you’ll see in a second).
(Universal Pictures/Apple-Argylle-Official Trailer)
But, as I said, it takes courage and creative wherewithal to invest millions of dollars, hundreds of hours in time, production, and writing, and forming a star-studded cast of Henry Cavil, Dua Lipa, John Cena, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, and Bryce Dallas Howard to make an original spy-thriller tale in the Hollywood Age of Sequels, Prequels, and Remakes.
Sure, you could say its Vaughn’s job and it’s too early to judge if the film will actually be as creative and cool as the trailer suggested, but at least the guy is taking the risk that so many Hollywood studios refuse to take.
And, as for the differences between this movie and other spy/action-thrillers, such as The Jewel of the Nile, James Bond, and Jason Bourne, this movie has a pretty clever twist: the movie isn’t actually about the novel coming out, but rather about a fictional, fortune-telling Elle Conway and her fictional universe.
Yeah, the Argylle book, which is an actual spy-thriller tale, is solely about the lead spy character, Argylle, coming up against “a Russian Magnate” and his “dream of restoring a nation to greatness”, while this story is of Elle Conway, who is the real-life author, being some kind of accidental fortune-teller (think of Stephen King’s Typewriter of the Gods) that results in spies and world governments being drawn to her due to her stories coming true in real life.
See the difference? I don’t know about you guys, but I think it’s really creative of Vaughn and his production staff and crew to use a real-life person and also their fictional universe to come up with a unique tale involving both the author and her works. Or, at least, that’s how I think the movie is set up to play out given the description of the book and the movie’s, respective, plots.
Anyway, we’ll have to wait and see if this movie is as good as I think it will be, but I have high hopes for it.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Universal Pictures/Apple) (Argylle | Official Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Universal Pictures/Apple) (Argylle | Official Trailer – YouTube)
