Despite directing many big-budget blockbusters, Matthew Vaughn has never shied away from a bold choice. Starting with the famous ending of Layer Cake, the British director has only got wilder with each film, from the exploding heads of the Kingsman: The Secret Service to anything that’s uttered by Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass. Which makes it all the more surprising, then, when he opens Argylle in such a mundane, familiar manner.
Stop me if you've heard this one before: Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a quiet and introverted novelist who would rather spend time at home alone with her beloved cat Alfie than socialise. She's about to publish the fifth instalment of her hugely successful spy series Argylle, which revolves around an eponymous secret agent (Henry Cavill), his tech expert Wyatt (John Cena) and co-agent Keira (Ariana DeBose). But when Elly’s mother Ruth (Catherine O’Hara) tells her that there’s a problem with the final act of the book, she travels from Colorado to Chicago to write another chapter that she has no ideas for.
Since she’s afraid of flying, Elly makes this journey by train. As soon as she sets off, though, the bearded and dishevelled Aidan (Sam Rockwell) sits opposite her. Aidan explains to Elly that he’s actually an undercover spy and proceeds to save her and Alfie from a group of rogue agents that are trying to kidnap, and then ultimately kill, the writer.
It turns out that Elly’s novels are actually a little too similar to the work of an evil underground syndicate. The organisation wants to capture her because she’s the only one who can help to figure out how to get her hands on a file that will expose their criminal activities.
It’s hard to tell whether Argylle's tepid start is intentional. It’s obvious that the first underwhelming, overwritten and plainly acted action scene that kicks off the film is from Elly’s novel, which itself is a blatant rip-off of other famous spy novels. The film is then unable to build up any momentum as it establishes the plot because most of the jokes in Jason Fuchs’s script fail to land, and even the actors appear to be performing in a half-hearted manner.
If being cliched on purpose never rises above the cliche, what are we doing exactly?
Rockwell’s appearance, thankfully, brings some much-needed energy, dynamism and humour that you expect from a spy action comedy and was so sorely missing from Argylle's drab beginning. Despite the esteemed cast, which also includes Samuel L Jackson, Bryan Cranston, Dua Lipa, Sofia Boutella, Rob Delaney and Richard E Grant, it’s Rockwell who makes Argylle compelling and gives us reason to keep watching.
Then, at around the hour mark, Argylle makes a switch that allows the script to catch-up to Rockwell’s performance. Both Vaughn and Fuchs deserve credit for making sure that the twist is surprising, but, when you look back at it, inevitable. This shift also allows the previously sluggish performers to let loose and make their portrayals more electrifying.
Even Vaughn starts to deploy the extravagant and visually arresting directorial approach that has made his films so exciting, albeit cheesy and over-the-top. That’s especially true of the ending, which includes two sequences you can’t help but simultaneously roll your eyes at and be engrossed by.
Argylle’s recovery, from tedious to wacky and captivating, doesn’t save things completely, though. By the end, it feels like two, three, maybe even four different films meshed together. The narrative turns give it an invigorating pace, as well as an intrigue and tension that goes all the way into the third act. But it still manages to overstay its welcome. That's a feeling that only grows with its needless mid-credits scene and tease of sequels no one has yet asked for.
Ultimately, Argylle is a hotchpotch of a film, at times fresh and original, at others too reminiscent of many that came before it. It's surprising then predictable, a slow-starter that still manages to incorporate everything you’d want and expect from a spy action comedy, forgetting to dial things down to let those bursts of brilliance land properly.
