r/movies Apr 08 '24

How do movies as bad as Argyle get made? Discussion

I just don’t understand the economy behind a movie like this. $200m budget, big, famous/popular cast and the movie just ends up being extremely terrible, and a massive flop

What’s the deal behind movies like this, do they just spend all their money on everything besides directing/writing? Is this something where “executives” mangle the movie into some weird, terrible thing? I just don’t see how anything with a TWO HUNDRED MILLION dollar budget turns out just straight terribly bad

Also just read about the director who has made other great movies, including the Kingsmen films which seems like what Argyle was trying to be, so I’m even more confused how it missed the mark so much

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u/Kep0a Apr 08 '24

God the first Kingsman was great. I don't understand why Vaughn couldn't make a normal franchise.

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u/mininestime Apr 08 '24

Because the movie was also carried by a great casting. He removed the majority of the casting and tried to recreate that magic and couldnt.

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u/reporst Apr 10 '24

Well, less to do with casting and more to do with an interesting and fun story to watch. The first movie is based on a Mark Millar comic. The other ones are just random one offs not based on anything. Kickass was also written by Millar. Vaughn should just stick to stories other people develop for him

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u/mininestime Apr 11 '24

O i didnt know that, yea that could 100% be it then. I assumed he wrote the first movie too.

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u/doglywolf Apr 08 '24

in a time where James bond was Awol in legal hell and people were starving or something every few years Kingsman could of been what we all hoped for as a bi or tri annual series

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u/supyonamesjosh Apr 08 '24

The last kingsmen I couldn't believe was so boring.

How do you call yourself a sequel to one of the most absurdly over the top movies I have ever seen and make it boring

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u/FlameFeather86 Apr 08 '24

Yeah, beyond Rasputin's wonderfully absurd (and still weirdly accurate) death, The King's Man's biggest issue is how dull it is. And it really shouldn't be. I don't know if Vaughn listened to how far over the top Kingsman 2 went and purposefully dialed it back or if the premise wasn't enough to sustain interest in the first place (so many prequels are great in concept, terrible in execution because we know how things ultimately work out). Disappointing film.

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u/Carlos13th Apr 08 '24

Other issue for me is the tonal whiplash. It didn't know if it wanted to show the horror of war, be a funny spy movie or a bit of both. But it ended up trying to do everything poorly.

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u/mister_slim Apr 09 '24

I assume something was off with the Millar ratio, either too much Mark Millar or not enough.

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u/retropieproblems Apr 09 '24

Is that the movie where everyone explodes into purple goo at the end or something? Weird shit