Film Review - Argylle
Images courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Everyone always asks who is Argylle, but they never ask how is Argylle? Kind of disappointing, if I'm being honest. Argylle, the latest action comedy from Kingsman: The Secret Service director Matthew Vaughn, is a cumbersome dud that never quite decides whether it wants to be a spoof of or an homage to the spy genre, failing at both. It’s a film that wastes an impressive ensemble cast, a fun premise, and one of action's more capable directors on a shoddy, derivative plot that starts off pleasantly enough, before losing its way and then, finally, attempting to make up for lost time with an ultra-silly finale that misses the mark.
The plot revolves around Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howrd), a reclusive author who has written a bestselling series of spy novels about the eponymous Argylle, a suave and handsome agent who travels the world and foils the schemes of a mysterious crime syndicate. But what if her novels are not entirely fiction? That’s the premise that Argylle runs with, as Elly is rescued from a train full of assassins by Aidan Wilde (Sam Rockwell), a scruffy spy who claims to be there to protect her. Together, they embark on a globe-trotting adventure to find a masterkey that could expose the evil organisation that is after them.
Sounds like pulpy fun, right? Well, it’s not really. Argylle is a mess of a film that tries to cram too many twists, turns, and characters into its bloated runtime. Much like my issues with Barbarian, the film is so busy trying to be clever and surprising that it forgets to be coherent or engaging. However, where Barbarian at least felt like all the jolting around was in service of an ambitious story, here it seems more like the result of an undercooked and hastily crammed together collection of ideas. Jason Fuch’s script is full of inconsistencies and contrivances that make the film a bit of a chore to follow and even harder to care about, resulting in tonal whiplash as we go from an average blend of humour and action, to a confusingly serious assortment of clichéd plot twists, and then back again. It's odd to have a film double cross itself, despite never actually breaking away from the core principles of its genre.
Argylle is a confused film that tries to have it both ways, leaving the audience stranded in the middle of “kinda okay”. It’s not as thrilling as Bond at his best, it's not as irreverent as Kingsman, and it's far from being as shagadelic as Austin Powers. It simultaneously overly relies on and wastes its cameos, and undercuts its endearing qualities by lack of commitment. When the film ended and the inevitable post credits scene finished I found myself groaning, tricked into investing in yet another MCU-style shared universe that lacks the style, substance, or sauce to get the job done.
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Argylle is screening in cinemas now. For tickets and more info, click here.