Argylle — Movie Review
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Argylle is the latest effort from director Matthew Vaughn. Since 2011’s fantastic X-Men: First Class, Vaughn has nearly exclusively worked on films from the Kingsman franchise. While that series has seen varying degrees of success, Argylle offers the promise of something new.
Indeed, aside from Vaughn’s trademark style, the first two acts of Argylle feel fresh and new. A cheesy by design espionage-action, the film appears to respond to the question, “What would Matthew Vaughn do with a James Bond movie?” The answer, it seems, is a riff on the 007 films of the ’70s with a modern twist — or several twists. This style works greatly to the advantage of Argylle through the film’s first two acts. More on that third act later …
The bulk of Argylle’s weight falls firmly on the shoulders of Bryce Dallas Howard, who performs admirably, if not amazingly. Sam Rockwell acts as the film’s co-lead and the reliable baseline of the film. Henry Cavill, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson, and Catherine O’Hara have memorable moments, with Bryan Cranston’s Bond-villain-esque performance topping the list. However, this is undoubtedly Howard’s film, for better or worse, and there are bits of both here.
Argylle builds a competent spider-web plot, keeping viewers guessing for the film’s first two acts. However, as we head into the third act, things go off the rails, to put it bluntly. Scenes seemingly meant to be humourous overstay their welcome. The film is overlong by at least 15 minutes, and the plot swiftly loses its footing on reality, drifting away from any sense of realism and verging into “silly.”
The film’s third-act faux pas doesn’t take away all of Argylle’s merit; it’s still a fun film. Unfortunately, it does mean the effort, which for the first two-thirds of its runtime finds itself firmly in “pretty great” territory, is downgraded to “pretty good” by the time the credits roll.
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