Argylle is the latest spy movie from Matthew Vaughn. First announced back in 2021, the movie is theoretically drawn from an as-yet-unpublished from Elly Conway that revolves around the world's greatest spy as he gets swept up in a globe-trotting adventure.
Apple picked up the exclusive rights to the film in a landmark deal that cost the company $200 million (via Deadline). Argylle is billed as the start of a brand new franchise for Apple TV Plus, with this as the first film in a trilogy, and anyone whose seen the movie will know what's next for the mysterious agent, Aubrey Argylle.
Here's all the latest info about Argylle, including the trailer, the mystery surrounding the Argylle books, the cast, and the critical reception.
Argylle release date: Is Argylle out yet?
Argylle is now in theaters, after releasing on Friday, February 2.
The spy thriller will also be available to stream on Apple TV Plus at a later, as yet undetermined date.
Argylle reviews: What do the critics think of the movie?
Argylle has not been warmly received thus far. At the time of our latest update, Argylle had a 35% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest rating of all Vaughn's movies.
In What To Watch's Argylle review, we said the movie was entertaining and featured a formidable cast, but the exhausting overuse of twists meant the movie ran out of steam long before the credits rolled, and its setpieces were let down by poor visual effects.
NME's Nick Levine said 'there's plenty more to enjoy here, including Howard's cleverly layered performance and Bryan Cranston's witty villain Ritter, but Argylle is hampered by strange pacing and a bloated 139-minute runtime.'
For The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw said: 'Argylle is a high-concept elevator pitch stuck between floors, a piece of colourful would-be franchise content that Vaughn is tiresomely trying to fold into the extended universe of his other work.' Bradshaw rated it 1/5 stars.
Argylle cast
Matthew Vaughn amassed an all-star cast for Argylle. Some of the most prominent stars are Henry Cavill as the titular spy, Aubrey Argylle, Bryce Dallas Howard as the best-selling author of the Argylle novels, Elly Conway, and Sam Rockwell as Aiden, a cat-allergic spy who protects Elly from her very real foes.
The Argylle cast also includes:
- Bryan Cranston as Director Ritter
- Catherine O'Hara as Elly's mother, Ruth
- John Cena as Wyatt
- Samuel L. Jackson as Alfie
- Ariana DeBose as Keira
- Sofia Boutella as Saba Al-Badr
- Dua Lipa as LaGrange
Argylle marks Grammy-winner Dua Lipa's major acting debut (barring her cameo role in the Barbie movie), and the singer-songwriter has also provided some original music for the film's title track and score.
The Argylle site also notes that Alfie, Elly's cat, is played by Chip, the real-life cat of supermodel, Claudia Vaughn (née Schiffer).
Supporting star John Cena appeared on Good Morning Britain ahead of the Argylle premiere on January 24. Talking about the trailer, he said: "It's really got the world talking and the great thing about Argylle is that you show an interesting trailer like this and you realise that the film has action and there is so much more to the film left than what you saw on the trailer." (Good Morning Britain airs in the UK on weekdays from 6 am on ITV1 & ITVX).
Argylle plot — what's Argylle about?
The full synopsis for Argylle reads: "From the twisted mind of Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman franchise, Kick-Ass) comes Argylle, a razor-witted, reality-bending, globe-encircling spy thriller.
Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World franchise) is Elly Conway, the reclusive author of a series of best-selling espionage novels, whose idea of bliss is a night at home with her computer and her cat, Alfie. But when the plots of Elly’s fictional books—which center on secret agent Argylle and his mission to unravel a global spy syndicate—begin to mirror the covert actions of a real-life spy organization, quiet evenings at home become a thing of the past.
Accompanied by Aiden (Oscar winner Sam Rockwell), a cat-allergic spy, Elly (carrying Alfie in her backpack) races across the world to stay one step ahead of the killers as the line between Elly’s fictional world and her real one begins to blur."
An Observer article claimed that the film's about "a best-selling spy novelist who turns out to be a world-class spy suffering from amnesia," and Vaughn himself claimed that the film's tone is meant to be fun and "sort of a mixture of Die Hard, Romancing the Stone, [and] Lethal Weapon" during a group interview with Collider.
The original Deadline cast announcement also saw Vaughn claim the early draft manuscript for Argylle was "the most incredible and original spy franchise since Ian Fleming's books of the 50s", adding "This is going to reinvent the spy genre."
Is there an Argylle trailer?
The Argylle trailer begins by showing us Agent Argylle's adventures, before shifting over to author Elly Conway minding her business on a train ride opposite Aiden, who promptly comes to her aid when she's attacked by some very real enemies. What follows looks like one hell of an explosive adventure that is jam-packed full of famous faces.
You can also find the first teaser from the film below:
How to watch Argylle
Argylle is getting a theatrical release on February 2, 2024, but you'll also be able to stream the film with an Apple TV Plus subscription.
Apple TV Plus costs $9.99/£8.99 a month and gives you access to a range of exclusive shows and movies that have been created or acquired solely for the platform. Big hits include Ted Lasso, Severance, Bad Sisters, and the Oscars 2022 Best Picture winner, CODA.
If you sign up, don't forget to check out our guide to the best Apple TV Plus shows so you know what you should be watching.
Is Argylle based on a book?
That's a pretty tricky question to answer. The short answer is: sort of?
Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in October 2023, Matthew Vaughn confirmed that the Argylle movie is based on the unpublished fourth book in the series penned by Elly Conway, a mysterious author who has almost no online presence.
He told interviewer Josh Horowitz: "I read the book, they bought the manuscript of the book, and met with [Argylle writer Jason] Fuchs, and we just came up with this", later adding: "Book 4, which is what the movie's based around, was the one that would work for it. Mr. Lucas was clever enough to start Star Wars with Episode 4, so why not us?"
The first Argylle book was only published at the start of January 2024, less than a month ahead of the movie's release, and the author has only been active on social media in the last few months, roughly around the time people properly tried to uncover Elly Conway's identity.
Theories about Conway's true identity have naturally started to spread. One popular suggestion is that pop megastar Taylor Swift is the author behind the series, thanks to all kinds of clues, including the fact that the cat backpack Conway wears to carry her cat in the movie bears a resemblance to the one Swift is wearing in her Netflix documentary, Miss Americana.
Unfortunately, it seems like the real star author isn't quite as well known. Washington Post author Sophia Nguyen argues that the Argylle novel is akin to the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania tie-in memoir, Look Out For The Little Guy! which Marvel published last September.
After doing some digging, and connecting with one of the people listed in the novel's acknowledgments, Nguyen mentioned that her trail pointed her to British author, Tammy Cohen, who could well be the real mind behind the Argylle books (although Cohen has kept schtum on the matter).
Matthew Vaughn movies
Producer and director Matthew Vaughn already has a number of popular movies under his belt, including several spy thrillers, so Argylle looks to be in good company! Here's a look at the movies he's directed so far:
- Layer Cake (2004)
- Stardust (2007)
- Kick-Ass (2010)
- X-Men: First Class (2011)
- Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
- The King's Man (2021)
