Matthew Vaughn writes and directs genre films with a sharp sense of fun and a weakness for overdoing the joke. We like him most when the characters matter more than the next surprise.
Fi1m perspective
An ordinary teenager decides to become a superhero in Kick-Ass (2010), and Matthew Vaughn finds plenty of comedy in how poorly equipped he is. The film is fast, funny and good at making reckless behaviour enjoyable. Vaughn and co-writer Jane Goldman begin by asking why anyone would volunteer for this, then become increasingly occupied with making the violence entertaining. We laughed at the child’s calm handling of brutality, then felt uneasy as the film kept asking us to cheer. Vaughn can sell an action scene so persuasively that the doubts raised by his own screenplay become easy to ignore.
His move from producing Guy Ritchie’s films to directing Layer Cake (2004) led to a surprisingly affectionate turn with Stardust (2007). Adapting Neil Gaiman’s novel with Goldman, he lets the fantasy be ridiculous without being embarrassed by its romance. Claire Danes gives that romance weight, while Michelle Pfeiffer provides a useful threat. The witches, princes and captain make for an overcrowded journey, but we are happy to spend time with them.
The Debt (2010), directed by John Madden from a screenplay by Vaughn, Goldman and Peter Straughan, shows how much his writing can lose when it reaches for familiar thrills. The exchanges between Jessica Chastain and Jesper Christensen in a Berlin flat give the film a tension that needs little embellishment. Yet the screenplay eventually replaces its difficult questions about truth with the mechanics of a routine thriller. The actors remain good; the writing gives them less interesting work.
By Argylle (2024), the appetite for surprise has become exhausting. Here Vaughn directs Jason Fuchs’s screenplay about a novelist whose books anticipate real espionage, a premise with enough life to carry the opening stretch. Sam Rockwell and Bryce Dallas Howard are likeable, and a train fight supplies the pleasure we want from Vaughn’s action. But there are too many reveals, and too little else to make the evening worthwhile. Start with Stardust; its detours are worth tolerating for the romance.
Biography
Matthew Vaughn is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. He began his career as a producer on Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000). He made his directorial debut with Layer Cake (2004).
Vaughn is known for directing 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) and Argylle (2024). He co-created the Kingsman comic series and the resulting film franchise. He was educated at Stowe School.
Vaughn is married to model Claudia Schiffer.
