TMS Movie Review: Argylle
(Universal Pictures)
A few weeks ago, it was reported the trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s latest, extravagant action flick, Argylle, was just the first 30 mins of the film. Theories then flew across the web. How bad could this movie be for them to hide so much of the film? Is the cat heavily featured in the marketing actually a secret, super powerful entity controlling the characters? Well, the truth is, it’s more like Renny Harlin’s The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) meets Aaron & Adam Nee’s The Lost City (2022). In fact that claim about the trailer isn’t even true, a lot of the footage is from various points of the film. Fortunately, it’s not a contender for worst of 2024 quite yet. But it is definitely the definition of forgettable.
In Chicago, IL, Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a successful spy novelist with her book series Argylle. She has it all, a nice, private home in the country, a low maintenance pet cat named Alfie and a caring mother, Ruth (Catherine O’Hara), she keeps in touch with. When Elly’s suddenly saved by a man, Aidan (Sam Rockwell), from a group of assassins on a train while visiting Ruth, she discovers the details in her books actually lean toward a real, devious organization more than she ever realized. Now real-life spy Aidan, as well as the head of the organization, Ritter (Bryan Cranston), need her to continue writing to find a secret file.
(Universal Pictures)
John Cena, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, Sofia Boutella, Samuel L. Jackson and Richard E. Grant make appearances throughout the feature, and Henry Cavill occasionally pops up as the title character of Elly’s novel. Argylle is a very silly action-comedy that is legitimately fun in a ridiculous way for the first hour. It almost feels like an Austin Powers-esque spoof and self-aware much like Vaughn’s earlier hits Kick-ass (2010) and Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014). But unfortunately, for some reason, Argylle is two hours and fifteen minutes long. Way, way longer than it needs to be and it shows. Things get too convoluted, too twisty, too tropey. What could have been a fun, harmless romp ends up dragging and becoming easily predictable. Howard is solid as the lead and has natural comedic timing. It’s also nice to see someone less model-like cast as a desirable woman with no mention of her figure or weight in the dialogue either. Rockwell is always a delight in lighthearted material and Lipa is practically auditioning to be a Bond girl in the opening sequence. The rest of the cast is sadly wasted. O’Hara in particular is funny in the first half, but seemingly unconvincing when the stakes are raised for her character in the later parts. Vaughn is still a decent action director, but a lot of Argylle feels like he’s on autopilot. The fact that his wife, Claudia Schiffer, has an executive producer credit; and the cat is apparently played by the couple’s real pet, makes one wonder how much of this production is really an Amazon funded family affair. So while Argylle had potential in the beginning, the resolutions and climax undermine it, I’m sorry to say.