When author Elly Conway discovers her latest espionage novel has a lot more truth in it than she realised, she is swept into a real-life spy adventure.
Targeted by a shadowy syndicate, her only hope is to trust the strangely disheveled agent sent to protect her.
Director Matthew Vaughn, who rose to prominence with films like Layer Cake and Kick-Ass, has a reputation for delivering glitzy stylised action films and Argylle is very much in that mould.
Funded by Apple TV, the films 12a rating means kills are less brutal and there is none of the leery elements sometimes seen in his Kingsman series, but the heightened comic-book tone is very similar.
Bryce Dallas-Howard is a rather awkward lead, never totally convincing as Conway, while Henry Cavill and John Cena are her fictional secret agents Argylle and Wyatt, appearing only during imagined sequences in the authors mind.
Oscar winner Sam Rockwell is the star of the piece, his laid-back persona making him an ideal choice for the role of Conway’s unlikely saviour agent Wilde. Unfortunately, his chemistry with Dallas-Howard is non-existent and results in a very awkward lead pairing.
The inclusion of Samuel L. Jackson and Bryan Cranston gives the cast a heavyweight feel, but only Jackson seems at home with the frothy tone.
The films opening fight scene, which sees Wilde come to Conway’s aid on a train, is well choreographed, but jarringly flits between Rockwell and Cavill’s ultra smooth Agent Argylle as the author imagines the fictional hero coming to her rescue. As inventive as this trick is, it doesn’t really make for coherent action and is unfortunately utilised more and more as the film progresses.
The script from Jason Fuchs is incredibly silly, littered with cringey dialogue and a plot so complicated it will likely turn viewers off. His story layers twist upon telegraphed twist until it stops being interesting and just becomes tedious. While the action scenes, which get more outlandish and absurd as the film goes on, are so reliant on CGI that they seem completely weightless.
By the end of the excruciatingly long runtime (2hours 20mins) you’ll likely have stopped caring who’s who and be eagerly awaiting the credits.
Clearly Vaughn thinks he’s delivered something hilarious here, but it just comes across as insufferably smug. Argylle is evidence of a director let loose, when the studio really should’ve been reining him in.
⭐️⭐️
Paul Steward
12/02/24
X @grittster