Argylle: Movie Review

Written and produced by Matthew Vaughn, Argylle is a light hearted spy thriller featuring an all-star cast. With promotional material for the film showing secret agent Argylle (Henry Cavill) front and center, along with Alfie (Samuel L Jackson). This film promises a fun hyper realistic tale of spy novelist Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard); as she tries to write her latest spy thriller. So you may be wondering if Argylle hit the mark or does it send more mixed messages than a doubles agent’s radio….

The premise of Argylle is genuine fun, as light hearted “What if” a famous spy author’s books turned out to be real adventures, somehow ended up impacting the real world. The idea of the author being a fish out of water in this newly realized secret world of lies, danger and deception that they could only dreamt of, has been done before and is usually fun, but Argylle does struggle.

Some of the positives Argylle is that it is an enjoyable two hours look at. Directed by the same man behind the Kingsmen films, there is a certain visual punch to the spectacle which will be familiar to fans of the Kingsmen films. The action is fun and for a majority of the runtime; the choreography is often able to skirt the line between believable and stylistically absurd. The color pallet is bright and fun and the use of creative visual techniques keep your attention most of the way through.

Henry Cavill’s brief appearance as the titular Argylle is charming and genuinely fun; but he is only in the film for what felt like a handful of minutes and the film struggled without his presence. Samuel L Jackson’s role in the film is also brief but enjoyable as always. Sam Rockwell’s time as super spy Aiden Wilde is enjoyably bizarre but isn’t able to bring the charisma that a theatrical super spy should. Wilde’s character skirts the line between unhinged and amusing but his best moments’ are the comedic banter between himself and Bryce Dallas Howard. Wild’s performance does highlight two of the films greatest flaws, in having a lot of Wilde as the leading man and not very much Cavill; the film desperately needed a more charismatic lead and that the films marketing is a blatant bait and switch. 

The film’s actual protagonist, Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), is at first likable and as relatable as a fish out of water for the first half of the film. If you were to think of Elly as this films version of a Ian Fleming, the films premise around her is a genuinely inspired idea. However, while Elly’s character starts off well by the conclusion her character feels far too detached from reality and becomes hard to relate to. By the film’s third act the absurdity kicks up to 11 and may just have you searching the bottom of your popcorn tin for better entertainment.

What Argylle is, is an enjoyable TV film. It’s a light popcorn flick that you might find enjoyable with your legs up on the sofa after a long day but it likely won’t leave you with any lasting impression. If you’re looking for a light hearted spy adventure you may be better served re-watching a film like Central Intelligence. If the film does achieve one thing, it’s that between his charm as Argylle and his edge in Mission Impossible, Henry Cavill should be the next James Bond. Aside from that you likely wont recall much else from the experience.

I would give Argylle 2.5 Silly Haircuts out of 5

Parental Advisory: Compared to the directors previous work with the Kingsmen, Argylle is fairly mild. There is talk about stomping heads which may make some parents feel uncomfortable as well as a good amount of action and there are brief instances of profanity.