Matthew Vaughn is a talented filmmaker. For those keeping score, this is a director/writer who has done some of his best work subverting convention with terrific films like Kick-Ass and Kingsman, and bringing out humanity in the fantastical, such as X-Men: First Class and Stardust.
He has a signature kinetic style, and a proclivity for really introducing brilliant, colorful, innovative set pieces to each of his films. So going into Argylle, admittedly I had high expectations. Did the movie meet those expectations? You may assume from the title of the article what the answer might be. But I believe it to be a bit more complex than just a simple “no.”
For majority of the movie, I was with Argylle. I found the first half, potentially the first 2/3 of the movie to be relatively entertaining. It was mostly clever, well acted, and the action was, as expected, fun and energetic. If it had just ended things, perhaps 20-30 min earlier the movie would have been acceptable, I’m sure. Having said that, the movie ends up overstaying it’s welcome, particularly in the last act. And that’s where things go from tolerable to “wtf.”
Argylle centers around renowned author Elly Conway. Famous for her series of spy novels (also known as Argylle), on the cusp of finishing her fifth book in the series, Elly discovers she’s being hunted by a rogue spy organization called “The Division,” who believe she is the key to finding a master list that could expose all of their agents as villains. Think of them as “Spectre” from James Bond films or “The Syndicate” from Mission: Impossible. Apparently Elly’s books have gotten too close to the truth, and The Division needs her silenced or complicit in their hunt for the list. Thankfully she’s saved by an actual espionage agent, Aiden Wild. And what progresses from there is a series of twists and turns and action beats that ensue in their journey to get the list and uncover the truth about Elly’s character, Agent Argylle.
After crafting an insanely irreverent and brilliantly subversive espionage film series, like Kingsman, you’d honestly expect Matthew Vaughn’s next potential spy franchise to be on the same level. Please temper your expectations. Argylle sort of starts out that way, but becomes much closer to a traditional spy movie, often times submitting to cheesy convention while assuming it’s more clever than it really is. Getting straight to the point, this is a movie that goes for twist, after twist, after twist, until it all just feels incredibly trite. That’s not to say it’s a horrible movie. But it is considerably tedious, getting sillier as it goes on and on.
Having said that, I found myself enjoying much of this movie. The first half is actually a fun ride, peppered with really terrific moments of action. In particular there’s a train sequence that allows the viewer to immerse themselves in Elly’s perspective, as her visuals of the fight switch between views of Sam Rockwell kicking ass, to occasional visions of him transforming into Henry Cavill’s fictional Argylle character, while delivering blows with bad guys. These moments are intentionally silly, but it works and it’s incredibly hilarious, watching Cavill throw himself into every perfect supermodel gesture, like running his hands through his hair and winking, while beating on someone, before your POV switches back to a homeless-looking Rockwell getting the snot kicked out of him. These moments, and the chaotic chemistry between Rockwell and Bryce Dallas Howard (both of whom are terrific throughout the full course of the film) make this movie funny, exciting, and clever. It does make you want to know more (be careful what you wish for).
You are also introduced to Elly’s mother, played by the always welcome Catherine O’Hara, and Bryan Cranston’s deviously hammy Ritter, the leader of The Division. They’re a lot of fun as well, with many of their scene chewing moments peppering the movie with personality that could only be accomplished by their talented comedic deliveries. But naturally, the actor that walks away with the entire movie is Chip, Vaughn’s Scottish Fold cat, who purrs and claws his way into the audience’s hearts – both real and CG’ed (though not particularly well at times). These elements combine to emphasize the comedic energy that really hammer in the point that this is a silly movie, not to be taken seriously. And that, for the most part, does make the first half of this film enjoyable.
But then, something funny happens. They go full stupid. The twists go from “ooh!” to “huh…” to “excuse me?” in a matter of minutes. And the funny and silly amusing comedy turns into a corny and silly bemusing “comedy.” In particular, once the audience meets “the real Agent Argylle” as teased by Samuel L. Jackson’s Alfie in the trailers, the movie rapidly and horribly goes down hill; like watching an Olympic skater suddenly go drunk mid-performance and sloppily stumble and fall rapidly. It made me literally think to myself, “What the hell were they thinking?” several times throughout the course of the final act of this movie.
(Light Spoilers Ahead. If you wish to go in blind, please stop reading now).
As the movie continues, the twists just get so incredibly tedious, it’s a wonder how writer Jason Fuchs and Vaughn are able to keep their overstuffed BS straight. And the element of surprise is essentially lost because the audience just doesn’t care at a certain point. It’s a movie that would make even M. Night Shyamalan scoff at the ridiculousness of every reveal. But the film trudges on complacently thinking it’s remarkably clever.
During the course of this final act, we are “treated” to a ridiculous reveal of who “Argylle” is, as well as an insane abundance of CG overloaded action sequences that are just plain stupid. One really insanely corny dance-fight romance sequence punctuated by clouds of multi-colored smoke, a figure skating fight sequence (of all things) with a character pirouetting on crude oil with knives for skate blades, and deus ex machina after deus ex machina. One character gets shot in the heart, but they go out of their way to explain it was two inches away from being a lethal kill, so he just tapes himself up and keeps going. The same character gets cat allergies that conveniently come and go as the movie requires. Argylle essentially becomes a symphony of really terrible throwaway ideas that effectively ruin everything positive about the film during the first half of the movie.
There’s also a forced romance in this film that absolutely did not work for me. And that’s because as good as the performances of Rockwell and Howard are, there’s simply no semblance of chemistry between them on a romantic level. Rockwell is scrappy and fun, and seeing him in an action-heavy role (while not the first time for anyone who has seen Mr. Right) is a joy; especially with this sort of budget. And Howard, with a change of facial expression, is capable of letting the audience know which of her personas we’re seeing on screen seamlessly. Together they have the perfect “Handler/Agent” chemistry, but absolutely zero romantic tension. And for the movie to force this on us just sort of made me feel embarrassed for it, despite how good its performers are.
The funny thing about all of this is, it started to feel incredibly cliched for a spy film. Decorated with miraculous recoveries from near death, Winter Soldier-esque triggers, and double/triple/quadruple agent turns, it made me really disappointed that a director once really renown for sending up the spy genre could make a movie this tethered to derivative clichés. And I think the subversion was there in that first half of the movie, but completely thrown out the window in the final act, for content that was really awful.
Furthermore, perhaps what will be seen as the biggest waste for fans, will be the diminished cameo-esque roles of Cavill, John Cena, Ariana DeBose, and Dua Lipa. Naturally anyone who has seen the trailers will know these are fictional characters in Elly’s book, and shouldn’t be placed front and center. But there’s also nothing for these huge stars to do in the movie, other than be, essentially, jokey punchlines. In fact, the times when they often intersplice narrative scenes between The Division, Elly’s story, and the fictional story come off as exhausting and chaotic more than anything. And with Vaughn, there’s often chaos, but there’s a difference between good chaos that brings fun to the movie, and annoying chaos that really serves no real purpose. A lot of what’s done with the fictional characters of Cavill, Cena, and DeBose is just that.
And that’s the biggest shame about Argylle. It’s not a terrible movie. It’s just a waste of good talent and some clever narrative potential overall. It could have and should have been better. It didn’t start out as a bad product at first, but then it sadly mutates into one abruptly towards the end. And thankfully, the fine performances of Rockwell, Howard, O’Hara, Cranston, and Jackson, along with an adorable cat and some good fight sequences and twists (before we get to the overkill state) just barely save the movie from being a downright disaster for me. That being said, my only real hope is that Vaughn’s next picture will restore the wit and charm into his writing and direction that we know him to be truly capable of. Because for as clever as he or Fuchs may think Argylle is, the most clever thing they can do is disavow it from their filmographies.
Overall Score: C
