Will the real Agent Argylle please stand up? Argylle is a new spy action comedy directed and produced by Matthew Vaughn, who is famous for his work on the Kingsman trilogy, Kick-Ass, and X-Men: First Class. For months, the trailer, set to the tune of Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds,” has played in cinemas and has put a lot of mystery towards the identity of the mysterious Agent Argylle. The film follows Ellie Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), a successful author known for writing about a fictional spy named Argylle (Henry Cavill), when she runs into Aidan (Sam Rockwell), a spy who saves her life and brings her and her cat, Alfie, on an espionage adventure straight out of her novels.
Although the year has just begun, this will likely stand the test of time as one of the most entertaining movies of 2024. This film is an absolute blast, with Vaughn showcasing all of his skills as a director to bring a very fun concept to life. The movie starts with Argylle on a campy spy mission, which feels almost like Cavill’s audition tape for James Bond. Although Cavill will likely never officially play the character, and his haircut in this movie is…interesting, the movie’s opening sequence offers a glimpse at what it could be like. Cavill is no stranger to spy fare after The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Mission: Impossible – Fallout, but this sequence offers an interesting flavor with Vaughn behind the camera.
Vaughn has always crafted large-scale action set pieces for his movies. He specializes in this genre, and this movie features him in his element. Argylle quickly ends up in a car chase with LaGrange (Dua Lipa), which manages to be hilariously over-the-top in a way that works so well with this genre. We’re introduced to Argylle’s associate, Wyatt (John Cena), an intelligent muscle man in what is revealed to be the fictional story from the mind of Ellie Conway. It’s a very amusing idea to have Ellie’s writing process brought to life as she writes and rewrites the story. We see her relationship with her mother, Ruth (Catherine O’Hara), and we get a sense of her commitment to her work, not allowing herself to be in a romantic relationship.
But her life gets turned upside down when assassins ambush her on a train. Luckily, Aidan is there to save her. Rockwell’s performance is great, and he has a lot of fun with this character. There is also a fascinating idea in this scene. This train fight scene where Aidan fights the assassins is shown through Ellie’s perspective, and she begins to see her character, Argylle, in place of this real-life spy. There’s a great joke here about how normal real spies are supposed to look, as opposed to their usual physically attractive depictions in film and TV. This is brought to life as the entire fight scene is performed by both Cavill and Rockwell, switching back and forth between them. It’s the perfect alternation of Cavill’s sexy British charm and Rockwell’s disorderly American humor.
From here, we have a wonderful fish-out-of-water story. The idea of a spy writer being forced to become an actual spy and thus needing to apply the research she did while writing her books to actual life-or-death situations is brilliant. For a while, we have this really fun story surrounding an experienced spy dragging around a woman and her cat through crazy events, all while being pursued by the villainous Ritter (Bryan Cranston). However, the narrative suddenly shifts, and we have a big plot twist. Then, we have another twist after that. And then another. And then another. It seems as if the story and character dynamics get turned on their head every five minutes in this movie.
Now, that’s not a bad thing. I’m impressed by how much of the story they were able to keep out of that trailer. There’s a lot more going on that you may not expect, making this one of the most unpredictable movies I’ve seen in a while. Even though the story strongly resembles a certain 90s action movie in retrospect, it still manages to feel fresh and keep you on your toes with all of its surprises. The sheer amount of twists will keep you watching the movie. The biggest issue is how uninteresting the actual spy narrative is. Beyond the plot twists, the thing the heroes and villains are after is very vague and forgettable.
Argylle is a very goofy movie that manages to be tongue-in-cheek. It knows exactly how ridiculous it is and how to have fun with itself. It throws surprise after surprise at you, all while being a well-paced, entertaining movie. As a result, this isn’t one of the strongest blockbusters in recent memory, but this is a buttery, delicious popcorn movie with so many stars in the cast. The fact that Vaughn can throw together a cast like this for an original, non-IP action movie written by Jason Fuchs (Ice Age: Continental Drift, Rags, Wonder Woman) is amazing. It’s an exceedingly dumb movie, and the final act, in particular, is ludicrous. But when you don’t take it too seriously and enjoy the ride, you can have a lot of fun with this film.
SCORE: 8/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
