'Argylle' Review: Bryce Dallas Howard Holds Matthew Vaughn's Light, Stylish Spy Caper Together
Who is the real agent Argylle? It has been a prevalent question since the inescapable action-comedy trailer from "Twisted Mind of Matthew Vaughn" debuted many months ago. Similar to Downsizing, Morbius, or any other trailer you couldn't avoid, Argylle was attached to every damn movie. It quickly became my thirteenth reason why, and I purposely started arriving at theaters late enough to avoid it. The endless nightmare is over, and I've finally learned the secret of THE REAL AGENT ARGYLLE.
PG13: strong violence and action and some strong language.
Runtime: 2 Hours and 19 Minutes
Production Companies: Apple Original Films, Marv Studios, Cloudy Productions
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Writer: Jason Fuchs
Cast: Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O'Hara, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson
Release Date: February 2, 2024
Exclusively In Theaters
World-renowned author Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is known best for her espionage series Argylle. Her book chronicles a combat team of spies, Argylle (Henry Cavill), his right hand Wyatt (John Cena), and their tech genius Keira (Ariana DeBose), as they go on missions across the globe. However, Conway leads a reclusive life on a lake with her cat Alfie. While on a train to visit her mother, she meets Aidan (Sam Rockwell), a rugged spy who reveals that her books have predicted the future of the organization she works for. He enlists her to continue writing her next chapter while they embark on a quest to retrieve a device that can shut an evil surveillance organization run by Ritter (Bryan Cranston) down.
Matthew Vaughn's sleek direction was refreshing when the first Kingsman was released – to the extent that my 17-year-old self gave it five stars and asserted, "It makes James Bond look like a pussy." But Vaughn's direction overcompensated with every follow-up he helmed rather than advancing his films’ quality. Argylle is Vaughn at his traditional routine under PG-13 confines. Oddly enough, I found it fitting to this “Romancing the Spy Stone” narrative. Through Argylle, Vaughn's frenzied animated spirit matches the broad, light tone in Jason Fuchs’ familiar screenplay. Even with the bloodless gunplay and combat, Vaughn delivers several vividly imaginative sequences that are an absolute blast.
One early highlight involves Aidan taking down assassins on a train, and the shocked Elly sees her Argylle character in his place with each blink, bridging Vaughn's play on perspective elevated by tight editing and slick camerawork. In other scenes, Vaughn remixes some of his greatest hits, which could be deemed lazy. Still, I'd be lying to myself if something like a CGI-filled sequence where a character zips on oil wearing skates and shooting up goons like an Olympian didn't leave me beaming with delight. The dazzling action (and dance) choreography and editing held my engagement with all its might, with the nostalgia of my youth coming out and admitting I enjoy Vaughn's style – when there's some heart behind the project.
From the start, Argylle is aware of its silly concept, and instead of winking and nodding to the camera, it rolls with the punches and tackles each beat with sincerity. While Elly and Aidan's adventure progresses, the former’s participation in the spy plot increases. It goes through the introvert-civilian-shocked-of-death routine. However, Bryce Dallas Howard's comic timing and Sam Rockwell's gung-ho country charm make the comedy and their character dynamic ever-convincing.
Argylle's plot hinges on the twist of the actual agent Argylle's identity, and while it takes a hell of a long time to get to that plot point, Fuchs’ screenplay becomes an entirely separate movie – for the better. I won't spoil the twist for you like “Discussing Film” did long before the movie went into production. I was more on board with the story’s character-focused commitment and its themes of identity. No, it's not deep by any means. If anything, it's as surface-level as a studio action-comedy gets. Still, the focus on Elly's character and her role in the spy mission leads to sweet, unexpected areas that I surprisingly enjoyed.
Bryce Dallas Howard shows off her range, playing both the badass she should've been across the wasteful Jurassic World movies and the endearing writer many – especially fellow writers – can resonate with.
Matthew Vaughn, for the love of God, please shoot on location or get a better VFX team to handle your movies. As much fun as I had with Argylle, the unrendered/overpolished graphics undercut the plot. It was cute with his Kingsman movies because they were silly comic book flicks. There's no excuse for your cinematic spy thriller to have the same visual quality as a PS5 game or, at times, with the shoddy CG cat Alfie onscreen, PS4. Places like Chicago or Colorado are relatively easy to shoot at, given a good unit production team and a day for coverage. Yet these brief scenes cave to an entire green or blue-screened set with far too good actors trying to act as if they're in a natural environment. And seeing this at the Lincoln Square IMAX makes the mixed quality more of an eyesore.
Fuchs’ screenplay deserved a punched-up comedic rewrite, for all the jokes and banter between Elly and Aidan are sporadically funny, with the amusement deriving from their respective actor's charms. Story-wise, several twists and turns in the story left me gagged up until it excessively relied on them. With each plot twist, you can feel the screenplay tacking on ten additional pages of long-winded backstory to get them to the next twist.
If you thought Peter Jackson had far too many conclusions in Return of the King, behold the far too many climaxes in Argylle. Each combat sequence dragged more than the last. Elly and Aidan have every opportunity to kill their greatest foes, but they don't take a chance until "it's necessary to the plot in the big climax." As much as it tries to abide by the spy genre, applying a lengthy runtime to itself, there's nothing to validate Argylle’s two-hour run time.
Argylle, in all its trashy, popcorn broadness, is an enjoyable yet overlong spy comedy held together by Matthew Vaughn's skilled direction and Bryce Dallas Howard at her best. Now, if a sequel comes to fruition, let her direct it. We’ve seen how she can cook behind a camera. Let her helm an action flick.
Rating: 3/5 | 60%
