There has been a big increase in the amount of espionage thrillers as of lately. In the past few years we have had the likes of The Gray Man, Ghosted, Heart of Stone, Black Widow, and a few more too grace the small and big screen. It appears that the spy genre is back in a big way. Apple TV+ and filmmaker Matthew Vaughn have teamed up to give us a brand new spy thriller that feels like Kingsman meets Romancing the Stone. The end result is Argylle. Argylle is an interesting film due to the nature of the story. The film is based off a book that has actually been released by a fictional author under the name of Elly Conway. Elly Conway is the main character of the film, who is writing a book called Argylle in the film, and we see characters from her fictional world blend with her world in the film. Sounds confusing? I’m glad it’s not just me. The whole concept is extremely meta and it is a very strange marketing strategy.
Let’s get to the nuts and bolts of the story. Bryce Dallas Howard does a decent job at playing Elly Conway, the author to a book series called Argylle, which is the name of the main character. She imagines the world of her stories with Henry Cavill portraying the titular Argylle. It soon transpires that her stories are not just stories but seem to be based on real events and a real spy organisation is after her. Real life spy Aidan, played by Sam Rockwell, bumps into her on a train and a real life spy mission ensues. The lines between real and fantasy are constantly blurred throughout the film. When the film reveals a major twist the whole film seems to collapse in on itself. The story is extremely heightened and silly, which matches Matthew Vaughn’s other works such as Kick-Ass and Kingsman, but what he attempted with those films was innovative for the genre. Argylle is not innovative and does not add anything new to the genre.
Halfway through the film you will lose focus and you will forget what is happening and what is real. Other actors Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, Catherine O’Hara and Sofia Boutella all are in on the game. This does feel like a self-contained world and it doesn’t appear to be grounded in reality at all. Once you get past the weird set pieces and the whole spy switching gimmick then you will begin to have fun. The film is fun and the ending is big and explosive and has some cool moments but it all means nothing when it comes to the narrative. Some of the twists make no sense, some of the plot points are questionable and it is worth thinking how anyone could follow a film like this.
The visual effects are flashy and full of glamour. There is a lot of different locations in the film, further hitting down the typical genre cliché’s. From the docks of London to a train journey in the countrysides of America, the film looks decent. The CGI cat however is very laughable and does distract you on several occasions. The film in general just has way too many distractions to enjoy it fully. It is only vaguely engaging and you will be glad to see the credits by the time the film ends, even with a more confusing mid-credits scene. Will there be more Argylle films, who knows? I just hope whatever they decide to do next is more understandable than whatever mess this film is.
★★☆☆☆
2/5
Final Verdict:
Argylle is colourful, flashy and over-the-top. If that is something you like in a spy thriller then you will have some fun when viewing this film. The story is over convoluted and too messy to understand, to the point where you will probably laugh more at the twists than the humour itself. Bryce Dallas Howard does a decent job at playing the lead character and Sam Rockwell shines as super spy Aidan, but even these characters can’t save the story from sinking. Sadly, there are better spy thrillers to watch instead of this one.
Thanks for reading today’s blog!
Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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