"Argylle" is an action spy comedy film co-produced and directed by Matthew Vaughn ("Kick-Ass", "X-Men: First Class", the "Kingsman" series). Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, John Cena, and Bryan Cranston, it takes great pleasure in that signature manic energy one would expect from a Matthew Vaughn film for better and for worse.
After concluding a promotional tour for her fourth book about the fictional spy Aubrey Argylle (Henry Cavill), novelist Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is about to put the finishing touches on her follow-up when she suffers from sudden writer's block. Later, Elly decides to visit her mother (Catherine O'Hara) by travelling on a train where she meets Aidan (Sam Rockwell), a real-life spy who informs her that plot points in her Argylle stories have seemingly uncovered the top secret activities of a sinister underground organisation known as the "Division". With her life now in serious danger, Elly is taken by Aidan to London where the pair search for an elusive master key believed to contain information that could bring down the Division for good. Along the way, Elly's awkward, introverted nature causes the duo numerous problems and she soon starts to suspect that Aidan is not everything he says he is.
It can be a lot of fun losing yourself into the world of a good novel. Unlike watching a movie, reading a story via text can allow for a more personal experience as it allows someone to envision things specifically to their own imagination, which is often the reason why books are widely considered better than the film adaptation. Spy novels in particular have remained popular over the years, as the casual reader is exposed to what would normally be a world they could never enter by conventional means, especially when the novelists meticulously research vital information to be used in their stories. Matthew Vaughn's latest film "Argylle" tells a tale of espionage from the perspective of a soft-spoken spy novelist in a fun, albeit all too familiar manner that is befitting to his technique.
By now, anybody who has watched most of Matthew Vaughn's recent films should be aware of what to expect. In the opening scene in a Greek nightclub, we see the smooth, confident James Bond-esque spy Argylle work his way over towards an attractive woman (Dua Lipa) for a stylistic waltz on the dance floor. Immediately after, the lady is revealed to be a femme fatale, leading to a chase sequence that wouldn't look out of place in any recent action film, complete with excessive gunfire and collateral damage to nearby buildings. Eventually we see that this whole scene was in fact a product of the imagination of author Elly Conway, whose withdrawn disposition is in stark contrast to the bombastic action she wrote about in her novel. From this point on, the film shows Elly's relatively banal, mundane routine writing her novels, which are done through online research rather than from her own actual experiences.
Once Elly meets Aidan, the story turns into something of a fish-out-of-water buddy comedy, with Elly's shocked reactions to the real spy Aidan becoming the backbone of this film's humour. While some of these jokes worked well within certain contexts, I found most of the notable comedic moments were very hit-and-miss. For instance, in one scene Aidan teaches Elly the correct way to deal with an enemy who has been knocked out cold, requiring her to act in a brutally violent manner. What then follows is a scene where the meek Elly is too squeamish to carry out something this destructive, leading to Aidan stepping in to take care of business on her behalf. In any other case, this scene could have been hilarious, but instead it came across as predictable and cliched. This could be because I've seen so many other set-ups like this in other spy comedies that have done it so much better, including in Vaughn's own "Kingsman" series, which is why they just didn't work for me this time around.
Weak comedy aside, the film's action scenes are quite exciting and are shot very well. If there were one thing Matthew Vaughn always seems to enjoy putting in his films, it would be the parts where a character has to fight off a large number of enemies in one fell swoop, and this movie is no exception. There were a few fun scenes where we watch the juxtaposition of both the fictional Argylle fighting his way through many adversaries in Elly's imagination and Aidan protecting her from the real world assassins bent on killing her for knowing too much. Here, Vaughn uses single takes and brisk editing to show how the fantasy and reality worlds are being blurred in Elly's mind, which is a clever way for us understand how confused she must be feeling at that very moment. Best of all, it's easy to follow along what is happening during these scenes due to there being great fight choreography to distinguish who is fighting who, as well as no shaky-cam to ruin the whole experience.
As the lead of this film, I really enjoyed watching Bryce Dallas Howard take on a role like Elly, who seems like a good fit for an actress like her. Though Elly's character may not seem like much at first, as the movie progresses we learn more about how she has such an extensive knowledge on spies and the way in which she applies it to her novels. Howard strikes a good balance between mild-mannered and quick thinking, allowing for some interesting information regarding her character to be revealed much later on in the story. I also liked watching her interact with Sam Rockwell as Aidan, whose appearance and demeanour make him an unlikely candidate for a spy. Elly's vision of spies being sophisticated, handsome gentlemen in her books have now been forcibly replaced by Aidan's crass, sociopathic personality, shattering the high esteem she held them in for so long. Rockwell and Howard have great chemistry with one another, and watching them work together is one of the key reasons this film was so watchable.
Despite only appearing in Elly's imagination, it's fun to watch Henry Cavill play the role of a suave spy like Aubrey Argylle, who may as well be his own personal take on James Bond. At this point, it's hard to say if Cavill will ever be cast as the famous 00 agent in the future, but if he doesn't then we will at least have this film to show he does have what it takes. John Cena was also amusing to see as Wyatt, the man responsible for helping out Argylle from a safer distance away from the action. Whether or not this is an inside joke referencing Cena's "You can't see me" wrestling catchphrase is a matter of debate, but I thought it was kind of funny seeing how he could appear at the last minute to help out Argylle whenever he finds himself in a pinch. The rest of the cast, which includes Bryan Cranston, Catherine O'Hara, Ariana DeBose, Samuel L. Jackson, and singer Dua Lipa also round things out pretty well, but since most of their roles in the story contain spoilers I will not be discussing them here.
Although Matthew Vaughn has definitely made much better films in the past, "Argylle" is still a decent addition to his catalogue that does promise to entertain. If the film had played it less safe with its comedy and perhaps went for a slightly darker tone, I would be inclined to give it a wider recommendation. Regardless, if you like what you've seen so far in Vaughn's "Kingsman" film series, then you'll probably find some of that same level of fun here to keep you occupied for 139 minutes. For that reason alone, I would be willing to call the film a minor success.
I rate it 7/10.
After concluding a promotional tour for her fourth book about the fictional spy Aubrey Argylle (Henry Cavill), novelist Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is about to put the finishing touches on her follow-up when she suffers from sudden writer's block. Later, Elly decides to visit her mother (Catherine O'Hara) by travelling on a train where she meets Aidan (Sam Rockwell), a real-life spy who informs her that plot points in her Argylle stories have seemingly uncovered the top secret activities of a sinister underground organisation known as the "Division". With her life now in serious danger, Elly is taken by Aidan to London where the pair search for an elusive master key believed to contain information that could bring down the Division for good. Along the way, Elly's awkward, introverted nature causes the duo numerous problems and she soon starts to suspect that Aidan is not everything he says he is.
It can be a lot of fun losing yourself into the world of a good novel. Unlike watching a movie, reading a story via text can allow for a more personal experience as it allows someone to envision things specifically to their own imagination, which is often the reason why books are widely considered better than the film adaptation. Spy novels in particular have remained popular over the years, as the casual reader is exposed to what would normally be a world they could never enter by conventional means, especially when the novelists meticulously research vital information to be used in their stories. Matthew Vaughn's latest film "Argylle" tells a tale of espionage from the perspective of a soft-spoken spy novelist in a fun, albeit all too familiar manner that is befitting to his technique.
By now, anybody who has watched most of Matthew Vaughn's recent films should be aware of what to expect. In the opening scene in a Greek nightclub, we see the smooth, confident James Bond-esque spy Argylle work his way over towards an attractive woman (Dua Lipa) for a stylistic waltz on the dance floor. Immediately after, the lady is revealed to be a femme fatale, leading to a chase sequence that wouldn't look out of place in any recent action film, complete with excessive gunfire and collateral damage to nearby buildings. Eventually we see that this whole scene was in fact a product of the imagination of author Elly Conway, whose withdrawn disposition is in stark contrast to the bombastic action she wrote about in her novel. From this point on, the film shows Elly's relatively banal, mundane routine writing her novels, which are done through online research rather than from her own actual experiences.
Once Elly meets Aidan, the story turns into something of a fish-out-of-water buddy comedy, with Elly's shocked reactions to the real spy Aidan becoming the backbone of this film's humour. While some of these jokes worked well within certain contexts, I found most of the notable comedic moments were very hit-and-miss. For instance, in one scene Aidan teaches Elly the correct way to deal with an enemy who has been knocked out cold, requiring her to act in a brutally violent manner. What then follows is a scene where the meek Elly is too squeamish to carry out something this destructive, leading to Aidan stepping in to take care of business on her behalf. In any other case, this scene could have been hilarious, but instead it came across as predictable and cliched. This could be because I've seen so many other set-ups like this in other spy comedies that have done it so much better, including in Vaughn's own "Kingsman" series, which is why they just didn't work for me this time around.
Weak comedy aside, the film's action scenes are quite exciting and are shot very well. If there were one thing Matthew Vaughn always seems to enjoy putting in his films, it would be the parts where a character has to fight off a large number of enemies in one fell swoop, and this movie is no exception. There were a few fun scenes where we watch the juxtaposition of both the fictional Argylle fighting his way through many adversaries in Elly's imagination and Aidan protecting her from the real world assassins bent on killing her for knowing too much. Here, Vaughn uses single takes and brisk editing to show how the fantasy and reality worlds are being blurred in Elly's mind, which is a clever way for us understand how confused she must be feeling at that very moment. Best of all, it's easy to follow along what is happening during these scenes due to there being great fight choreography to distinguish who is fighting who, as well as no shaky-cam to ruin the whole experience.
As the lead of this film, I really enjoyed watching Bryce Dallas Howard take on a role like Elly, who seems like a good fit for an actress like her. Though Elly's character may not seem like much at first, as the movie progresses we learn more about how she has such an extensive knowledge on spies and the way in which she applies it to her novels. Howard strikes a good balance between mild-mannered and quick thinking, allowing for some interesting information regarding her character to be revealed much later on in the story. I also liked watching her interact with Sam Rockwell as Aidan, whose appearance and demeanour make him an unlikely candidate for a spy. Elly's vision of spies being sophisticated, handsome gentlemen in her books have now been forcibly replaced by Aidan's crass, sociopathic personality, shattering the high esteem she held them in for so long. Rockwell and Howard have great chemistry with one another, and watching them work together is one of the key reasons this film was so watchable.
Despite only appearing in Elly's imagination, it's fun to watch Henry Cavill play the role of a suave spy like Aubrey Argylle, who may as well be his own personal take on James Bond. At this point, it's hard to say if Cavill will ever be cast as the famous 00 agent in the future, but if he doesn't then we will at least have this film to show he does have what it takes. John Cena was also amusing to see as Wyatt, the man responsible for helping out Argylle from a safer distance away from the action. Whether or not this is an inside joke referencing Cena's "You can't see me" wrestling catchphrase is a matter of debate, but I thought it was kind of funny seeing how he could appear at the last minute to help out Argylle whenever he finds himself in a pinch. The rest of the cast, which includes Bryan Cranston, Catherine O'Hara, Ariana DeBose, Samuel L. Jackson, and singer Dua Lipa also round things out pretty well, but since most of their roles in the story contain spoilers I will not be discussing them here.
Although Matthew Vaughn has definitely made much better films in the past, "Argylle" is still a decent addition to his catalogue that does promise to entertain. If the film had played it less safe with its comedy and perhaps went for a slightly darker tone, I would be inclined to give it a wider recommendation. Regardless, if you like what you've seen so far in Vaughn's "Kingsman" film series, then you'll probably find some of that same level of fun here to keep you occupied for 139 minutes. For that reason alone, I would be willing to call the film a minor success.
I rate it 7/10.