Movie Review: 'Argylle'

Argylle (2024)

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Written by Jason Fuchs

Starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, Bryan Cranston, John Cena, Ariana Debose, Dua Lipa, Samuel L. Jackson, Catherine O'Hara

Release Date February 2nd, 2024

Published February 1st, 2024

The high concept premise of Argylle is relatively simple: what would happen if the spy novels written by an unassuming, shut-in, bestselling author, became a reality that forces the writer into the real life world of espionage, violence, and betrayal. Bryce Dallas Howard stars as the hapless best selling author Elly Conway. Elly's high flying spy adventure, Argylle, has become a worldwide phenomenon all while Elly lives a peaceful, slightly lonely, existence at a lakeside home far from the crowds of admiring readers. Elly's idyllic life of writing and spending time with her beloved cat, Alfie, is upended when she can't think of a final chapter for her fifth book in the Argylle series.

Suffering from severe writer's block, Elly boards an Amtrak train headed to see her mother, Ruth (Catherine O'Hara) who she hopes will help her snap back into writing mode. Unfortunately, Elly is not going to make it home to mom. On her train ride, Elly finds herself in the company of Aiden (Sam Rockwell), a real life spy who saves Elly's life from a series of attempted assassinations aboard this moving train. Bodies pile up fast as Aiden whipsaws about the train snapping necks and shooting baddies right in the heart while he saves Elly and Alfie from assassination.

As Aiden will eventually explain, Elly's books are somehow mirroring real world, real-life, geo-political situations in which a rogue spy agency is trying outwit a group of good guy spies working to protect the world. Caught in the middle, Elly doesn't know who to trust, Aiden and his CIA pal, played by Samuel L. Jackson, or the head of a rival group of spies who Elly may or may not already be familiar with. It's a terrific premise and it's all building to a pretty nifty twist until director Matthew Vaughn twists us one too many times leading to a flat finish for an otherwise fleet footed action flick.

Director Matthew Vaughn's style has always been to to throw far too much at the audience in an attempt to overwhelm us into having a good time. It's a hit and miss style that, when it hits, can produce a mind blowing monster action movie like The Kingsman and when it misses, it gives us a deeply mediocre, even unpleasant, Kingsman prequel. Thankfully, Argylle is more hits than misses. Here, Matthew Vaughn is once again giving us way too much to handle in terms of action, violence and twists and it mostly works, until, again, Vaughn adds perhaps one twist too many.

Bryce Dallas Howard is terrific in Argylle. Her Elly Conway may be a shrinking violet who is obsessed with her cat, but she's also super smart and proves herself capable as the story unfolds. Howard has terrific chemistry with Sam Rockwell as her spy protector and her visions of Henry Cavill and John Cena as her fictional spy team make for a series of terrific action scenes as we shift between fantasy and reality. Howard's deft comic touch and her nimble approach to action comedy are genuinely delightful, I loved just about everything about her performance.

If only Matthew Vaughn hadn't gone in for just one twist too many. There is still far more good than bad in Argylle, but there was a chance to make a really great, all-timer of a spy comedy in Argylle and it just comes up short. Vaughn can't help himself from adding just one more twist in this already twist heavy story and it proves exhausting. Rather than the film ending on a note of exhilaration, we end on a sigh and the notion that there is probably already a sequel in the works. And we still aren't done. Vaughn can't help but toss an Easter Egg into the mid-credits and it only further tests your patience. That said, despite the director's over-indulgence, Argylle is still too much fun for me not to recommend it.

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