Argylle review: Matthew Vaughn’s meta-spy action comedy is overstuffed and exhausting
But hey, at least Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell are having a great time amid the requisite globe-trotting and convoluted twists
Film Reviews Argylle
There’s a blinking humor laced throughout Matthew Vaughn’s latest spy action comedy, Argylle. Not winking—although, there are moments when it playfully nudges us to scoff and marvel at its own knowingness—but blinking. As in, blinking becomes a key way in which the film telegraphs some of its most presumably hilarious moments: one moment you see the setup of a visual gag, and then blink you see its punchline. Used once it’s a great gimmick, but as with all things Argylle, such comedic mechanics are used and overused ad nauseam, to the point that they start losing their impact.
The one doing the blinking throughout the film is Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), a dowdy, skittish author (is there any other kind in films like these?). She’s the bestselling writer of a series of spy novels centered on Agent Argylle (Henry Cavill, donning a ridiculous haircut and one of the most ill-fitting costumes he’s yet to wear on screen). Throughout four books she’s managed to turn this suave spy into a modern-day Bond, and everyone—including her adoring mother (Catherine O’Hara, brilliant as ever)—is eager to find out what’s gonna happen in her next book. Will Argylle be able to take down the evil counterspy operation that’s been wreaking havoc all over and which he’s since learned involves those at the top of his very own agency? Will he be able to retrieve the key (encoded and in the hands of a hacker, of course) to all such intel in time to bring it all down?
But Elly is suffering from writer’s block and so, in a fit of inspiration, she decides to pack her stuff and her cat, Alfie, and take a train to see mom. Maybe she needs time away from her desk to better focus on these stories which, she insists to her readers, flow through her as if they were already there to be plucked.
But that train ride only brings her grief. She fumbles a flirting situation and then finds herself sitting across from a long-haired bearded doofus of a guy (Sam Rockwell’s Aidan) who, surprise, is reading her latest book. But that’s not all. He then tells her he’s a secret agent tasked with keeping her safe (trust him, he insists) and that she shouldn’t be spooked when everyone on the train (looking like normal folks; not like her Argylle) starts going after her.
That’s when the blinking starts. For no sooner has Aidan said all this than she begins seeing Aidan and Argylle interchangeably as he (they?) fends off a swarm of baddies who clearly want to kidnap Elly: it seems her books aren’t so much fiction after all. In these kinds of action sequences, Vaughn’s child-like glee for choreographed fights is clear. In the confines of an Amtrak train, the writer-director responsible for Kick-Ass and the Kingsman franchise really comes alive. Rockwell’s Aidan is clearly a well-trained spy, using everything from Elly’s book to restroom doors to fend off and neutralize those goons going after Elly, only Elly sees not Aidan but Argylle, which makes for some fun moments. Aidan is often capable but graceless, but in the blink of an eye, Elly sees instead how Argylle would dispose of these threats more elegantly. Elly rightly believes she’s losing her mind, but it’s enjoyable to go back and forth (blinking in and out of) those Aidan/Argylle moments.
And therein lies the setup of Argylle: fact and fiction will be thenceforth intertwined. Thus, as Elly and Aidan try to write Elly’s next chapter—namely, try to figure out what actually happened to the real-life spy who, like his fictional counterpart, had uncovered a far-reaching conspiracy—Vaughn launches them into a series of globe-trotting misadventures that will test whether Argylle’s tagline (“The greater the spy, the bigger the lie”) is more than just a great marketing hook. Can Elly really trust what Aidan is telling her? Can she really be safe while in the midst of a spy vs. spy operation where lying and backstabbing are but par for the course? And, more importantly, will her beloved cat Alfie be able to survive this entire ordeal?
Given how closely Argylle hews to playfully toying with spy genre tropes, some of the many (oh so many!) twists it stages are best left unspoiled, even if they are, at times, easily anticipated. And for the most part, Vaughn mounts some aptly enjoyable set pieces that keep the film from feeling too self-serious, a key ingredient if you’re going to spoof this genre. Indeed, there are two fight sequences at the end of the film—one riffing on a dance duet, the other an ice skating routine—that are so delightfully bonkers you can’t help but grin along enough to ward off the cringe you’d otherwise be feeling. Even still, Vaughn’s overuse of disco and pop songs throughout to score cartoonishly violent sequences eventually wears out its welcome, emerging (like those blinking moments) as audiovisual crutches meant to telegraph what’s funny rather than letting said moments be funny instead.
At least Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell, as the unlikeliest spy action duo, are having a great time. As are most of the film’s cast. Cavill, in particular, getting to mock the kind of square-jawed, unflappable spies that often adorn this kind of film, plays his role with gusto, while the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Bryan Cranston, and John Cena all dutifully hit their marks and offer variations on the types of roles they’d be expected to play in a spy flick like this. For, at times, Argylle does feel more like a writerly exercise in how to pen a spy caper in the 21st century, when self-deprecating irony itself needs to be offered up within quotation marks, finely straddling the line between an earnest laugh and a sardonic stare. In trying to do both—in trying to play it straight and yet show the very absurd mechanics of what it means to do so—Argylle lands in a kind of exhausting limbo, forever stretching its premise to its breaking point only to snap it back up again. All within the blink of an eye.
Argylle opens in theaters February 2
71 Comments
As a fan of this series of movies, Romancing the Stone, The lost City and now this, I will gladly stream this some late spring evening. I hope this at least gives Mr. Cavill a chance at playing James Bond some day. He really fits the book description.
He’s far too old for Bond.
It could’ve been interesting but I also think he’s too old now, but it would still be cool to see him as a rogue agent or bad guy for the next younger Bond to have to square up against.
Fair. As an old I remember the first few Bond actors being too old for the role.
Actually he’s only a few years older than Craig was in his first movie, maybe if they don’t rope him in for a full 15 year stint they could do one or two movies with him as Bond and then get a new guy in. Or maybe just stick with Bond being 40-50 something anyway. I dunno. We’ll always have The Man from UNCLE to scratch the itch a bit.
In the books Bond is late thirties so he is only a bit too old. One or two movies would be fine.
Sean Connery was like 32 in Dr No!
And Roger Moore was 57 in a view to a kill.
“overstuffed and exhausting”Checks out.
Exactly. I’ve seen a Matthew Vaughn movie.
Idk if it’s a hot take, but I think Matthew Vaughn is a decent mainstream director who desperately wants to be punk rock, but has nothing to say and no real style of his own. So he just comes off as a cheap Guy Ritchie knockoff.
Might be a hot take if it weren’t so objectively true.
That’s a bit like saying Vaughn’s blander than Wonder Bread given that Ritchie himself isn’t as punk or whatever as he presents either. Not that you’re wrong about Vaughn.
Ritchie at least has interesting and unique characters, even if he hasn’t ever fully replicated the bonkers mayhem of Snatch.
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is his best work to me.
I wouldn’t argue against that, but it was made before Snatch. Plus if I need a pick me up, watching a clip of Pitt’s scenes always does the trick.
‘”Idk if it’s a hot take, but I think Matthew Vaughn is a decent mainstream director who desperately wants to be punk rock, but has nothing to say and no real style of his own. So he just comes off as a cheap Guy Ritchie knockoff.”’I’d say that’s a fair take, considering the fact that both of his prior films he’s most known for (King’s man and Kick Ass) were adaptations which he didn’t initially write then when he found success with them he decided to make their respective sequels (prequel in the case of King’s Man) where he had to try to fit someone else’s writing sensibilities in order for them to feel like they were natural extensions of their source material.Argylle is really his first chance in a while to do a wholly original work without a direct prior source for inspiration.
Vaughn started out as a producer on Guy Ritchie’s films, so it makes sense that his style has often been similar. Personally I don’t think either of them are much good really.
Excluding the movie he made with Madonna (Swept Away), I really enjoyed Ritchie’s 1st four films (Lock, Stock, Snatch, Revolver, and RocknRolla). I never got into his Sherlock Films, The Man from U.N.C.L.E was okay, and out of his last releases, the only one worth a damn was Wrath of Man (which admittedly could’ve been better than it was given the performers and the premise).
Matthew Vaughn. funnily enough, has had a similar trajectory. Out of his 1st five films, I found four really good (Layer Cake, Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, and Kingsman) while the 5th was bad an forgettable (Stardust).
They both seemed to have fallen off the moment they get relatively bigger budgeted franchises (Sherlock Holmes and Kingsman/X-Men, respectively), but perhaps it’s because many of the performers they used early on are no longer available (think Brad Pitt in Snatch or Daniel Craig in Layer Cake) and they’re in a nebulous budgetary area where they’re given too much money for a smaller-scale movie, but not enough money to go absolutely bonkers.
That being said, you’re right that they have similar styles and the range of movies they themselves would write/direct is relatively narrow. However, they’re undoubtedly better than a lot of the writer/directors who are getting relatively big budgets to put out utter schlock on some of the streaming services.
It’s nice to finally see I’m not the only one here cursed to double post.
Haha, I didn’t even notice my double post. This damn site.
Excluding the movie he made with Madonna (Swept Away), I really enjoyed Ritchie’s 1st four films (Lock, Stock, Snatch, Revolver, and RocknRolla). I never got into his Sherlock Films, The Man from U.N.C.L.E was okay, and out of his last releases, the only one worth a damn was Wrath of Man (which admittedly could’ve been better than it was given the performers and the premise).
Matthew Vaughn. funnily enough, has had a similar trajectory. Out of his 1st five films, I found four really good (Layer Cake, Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, and Kingsman) while the 5th was bad an forgettable (Stardust).
They both seemed to have fallen off the moment they get relatively bigger budgeted franchises (Sherlock Holmes and Kingsman/X-Men, respectively), but perhaps it’s because many of the performers they used early on are no longer available (think Brad Pitt in Snatch or Daniel Craig in Layer Cake) and they’re in a nebulous budgetary area where they’re given too much money for a smaller-scale movie, but not enough money to go absolutely bonkers.
That being said, you’re right that they have similar styles and the range of movies they themselves would write/direct is relatively narrow. However, they’re undoubtedly better than a lot of the writer/directors who are getting relatively big budgets to put out utter schlock on some of the streaming services.
Bit of a hot take.
I’d think there are plenty of other directors more deserving of the description “has nothing to say and no real style of his own”.
The guy was once praised for saving the X-Men movie series, which is more than most. Give him that at least.
Saving the X-men series isn’t really a high bar though. I mean, there is a lot of stupid in First Class. A whole lot of stupid (seriously, did they forget what Darwin’s power was?). It also starts the ‘You’re only watching this to see what Magneto will do’ era of X-men films.
Vaughn pretty much has a defined formula that includes incredibly stupid protagonists, a need to kill off characters in scenes that are meant to have impact but turn out to be very stupid once you take the time to think about how they occurred, and an inability to ever showcase a healthy relationship. The actors and action tend to carry his films, though I’ll say he definitely improved some parts of Kick-Ass.
If I were to compare him to Guy Ritchie, I’d say Ritchie does a lot better with dialogue and character interaction. He’s had some ‘meh’ films but he’s really good with an ensemble cast and making characters memorable. Plus Ritchie is definitely better with style and ‘twists’.
I like how ‘Invincible’ had Mark consider the name Ass-Kicker for one second before dismissing it as “wilfully childish”, which honestly sums up my feelings about a lot of Vaughn’s style (and, of course, that of Mark Millar, the originator of Kick Ass).
I can’t stand kickass, but Vaughn’s version of Kingsmen destroys Millar’s awful comic
Millar’s work always needs someone willing to filter out the 90’s edgelord tendencies when adapting it. I always feel like Millar’s work runs on red bull, cocaine, and the word extreme spelled as ‘Exxxtreme’.
Im trying to think of the last time he made a film worth seeing. Its been a while.
It’s hilarious to me that just yesterday there was a trailer for Guy Ritchie’s next film (it was called… wait, what was it? The League of Unprofessional Assholes? *stops, looks up movie title* Ah, right, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare), which felt like it had exactly the same tone and visual style of Argylle. If you’d told me that the directors of these two movies were the opposite of what they really are, I’d believe it in a heartbeat.
Odds are Ritchie’s film would be the one with at least one memorable monologue and characters with more than a single defining trait.
I would generally agree. I think he may be afflicted with Trying Too Hard to stand out and make an auteur identity. But I defend that Vaughn is very technically competent and incredibly thoughtful in the way he directs and handles a screenplay. He also appears to have managed to maintain creative control. I would love to see him direct a blockbuster IP, like one of the new DC superhero movies or a Star Wars, because I don’t think these sort of IPs are served well by auteur director styles.
From only the trailers: The “Real Agent Argyle” is the cat, right?
Especially since their alternate tagline is, “Once you know, don’t let the cat out of the bag,” when half the shots in the trailer feature a literal cat in a bag, I can’t imagine it’s anything else (maybe a meta reference to it being Cat-herine O’Hara, but Vaughn’s not that clever).
Wait….so it’s a robot cat or something? I was suspicious from that thumbnail alone – I’ve never met a cat who would go willingly into an enclosed space.
My guess is that one of the characters read BDH’s book and put a surveillance camera in its collar or something, but a robot wouldn’t surprise me either.
The logline for the movie was openly on Wikipedia for two years and gave away the entire mystery. It’s far, far simpler than you think. Imagine the most basic plot twist, because that’s what it is.
Non spoiler. Cat is a comedic point only. ZERO plot.
nothing annoys me more than the fact that it’s argylle not argyle.
Argyll would also have been acceptable.Maybe they thought a distinctive spelling could be more easily defended as a trademark. Because that’s going to be valuable.
The special FX in the ads are so crude, so laughably bad, did they spend ANY money making this flick?
Duet Dance fight? Kind of sounds like he’s doing his Russian spy dance fight from the awful “The Kings Man” movie.
unbearable marketing campaign, hack director, annoying cast, what more could you want!
You’ve got to admire the balls of a marketing department who makes a single trailer and then calls it a day.
It’s because they haven’t revealed anything outside the first half hour of the movie.Can’t really get two sufficiently different trailers out of that.
For a movie that turns out to be this utterly simplistic, there’s really nothing to market. Hence why they’ve desperately tried to manufacture a ridiculous mystery where none exists.
Well, at least Claudia Schiffer got what she wanted. She wanted her husband to make an action movie about her cat and he somehow got it made. That’s the story, right? I’m too lazy to go back and research. At least we have Layer Cake, Nothing and no one can take that away from Matthew Vaughn. He rescued what could have been a forgettable Guy Ritchie movie.
Not a mention of Dua Lipa’s performance?
I wondered about that. Whether it’s good or bad, the trailer’s have certainly been making a big deal of her being in this, so I thought it would rate a mention.
They have gotten there money’s worth out of that yellow dress.
It’s a glorified cameo. Just the opening scene. Most of it was in the trailer. Even cavill has about 10 minutes of total screentime.
Wow holy shit that’s bad. The Wikipedia plot summary doesn’t even bother noting half the cast. That’s some real creative marketing.
Now that this is posted I’ll go full ass spoiler on this!!!____________________________________________________The CGI is so distracting that you can see the mapping software unable to keep characters in focus. Like the local weather-person wearing a color that blurs the graphics level of cheap! Under No acceptable reason can anyone explain how someone can skate in Crude Oil!!! The damn liquid moved like water in the movie, has no one ever changed their oil?It’s criminal what they did with both Catherine O’Hara and Bryan Cranston. 2 HOURS 10 Minutes is far too long for this… even with the end scene tying this to other IP! (Apple must have a series in the works!)As they work towards the climax I couldn’t help be reminded of Tom Clancy novels where you can skip two or three chapters of over-written military porn nearish the end to get to a resolution. Blonde Bryce is not good Bryce… She’s a good actress, well suited for the author role… but her twist is not in her believable character closet.Sam Rockwell makes this movie… the dancing, goofy guy he plays so well is present.
For me, exhausting is true for everything Matthew Vaughn after Layer Cake, or First Class, where he was beholden a licensor.Maybe it’s all the Mark Millar in his oerve, but too much time making edgelord exploitation has changed his tastes. Or emboldened it, and I just don’t like it.
THIS right here. Layer Cake is one of my favorite movies but he’s quickly approaching Zack Snyder territory where you have to wonder why they keep giving this guy money.
Aw man.I though this was the origin story for John McClain’s limo driver.
New idea for a franchise: every movie has a new action hero in a different life-or-death scenario, but it’s always Argyle waiting for him in the limo.
Weirdly, Argyle wasn’t one of the characters brought back for Die Hard 2.
I’d rather watch an overstuffed, self-satisfied spy spoof featuring loads of talented actors having a blast than a consistently amusing, competent comedy with absolutely nothing new or fresh to offer. C+ or not, I’m adding this to my “to watch” list.And yes, the cat is definitely the spy, I don’t care that it’s so freaking obvious I’ll still roll with it.
On an A – F scale a C+ is arguably average.Sometimes an average movie is just fine depending on your mood.
Everyone seems sure that the cat is a spy, but… huh? Do cats have human-level intelligence in this world, or is it just unknowingly carrying around a secret thumb drive or something?
It just seems like that kind of movie, and honestly, I wouldn’t be disappointed. Sometimes utter ridiculousness serves the story.
From the man that brought you Scotland did ww1 and Hitler post credit scene, spy cat is normal.
There’s probably some silly twist like the cat has a camera in its collar so it can see everything going on and/or written about, kind of like the galaxy being in the cat’s collar in “Men in Black.”
Cats & Dogs plumbed that depth. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0239395/
Son of my mom!
I’m not sure why your only two options are what seems to be a terrible movie with a lot of big names and a decent but unspectacular comedy. There are thousands of other movies out there. Instead of adding this one to your watch list because it’s better than other non-good movies, maybe look for a good movie to watch.
Sam Rockwell always brings the fun. I recently saw ‘Mr Right’, which is a fairly mediocre movie, but him playing a goofy assassin alongside Anna Kendrick (who is similarly always a joy to watch) elevated it a lot.
To say he was the only thing worth watching in Iron Man 2 is an exaggeration, but not much of one.Unfortunately, Disney made him play the lead role in G-Force completely straight, which is one of the numerous poor decisions that sabotaged an iffy premise.
I will continue to bring up Dr. Wai in the Scripture with no Words every time some hack director makes a movie where an author works through shit using a confusing mix of their real life and their own writing, just in the desperate hope someone besides me will see it.In America, I mean. I assume tons of Asian people have seen it.
I endorse your tactics. Dr Wai is wonderful!
C+ is beyond generous. This is 2024’s Renfield. Just utter garbage.