“Argylle” is the newest spy comedy movie directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell.
Released on Feb. 2, it centers around Howard as author Elly Conway, who is most known for her espionage books about an agent named Argylle.
Conway runs into a real secret agent, Aiden, played by Rockwell, who tries to protect her as a devious corporation is out to get her for supposedly predicting real espionage events.
Alongside Conway, viewers are transported between reality and the reality that exists in the writing of her books.
The film switches between certain actors and lines of dialogue that are meant to represent the real world and Conway’s fictional one, and the technique is successful.
My major complaint comes towards the end of the movie, where alliances keep switching back and forth as a last-ditch effort to stir more tension in the climax. This grew to be very tiresome and felt like needless padding.
The performances were also a bit scrambled.
Howard was easily the best, starting as a frightened and feeble author who grows to be a more confident courageous person. Rockwell was the second best, as he played a dim-witted, but ultimately cool spy.
Actors like John Cena, Dua Lipa and Samuel L. Jackson don’t have much of a presence. They mostly exist to get information across, but that’s about it. Henry Cavill, Catherine O’Hara and Bryan Cranston played their parts well but felt somewhat standard and safe.
The action and comedy were fun for the most part. Quippy one-liners, over-the-top set pieces and wonderfully creative, yet dumb fight scenes helped keep the audience entertained.
However, despite its budget of $200 million, the visual effects felt like they came out in 2004, not 2024. The biggest offender of this was Conway’s cat, Alfie. A majority of the film was done in CGI, and it was very noticeable.
The film had growing media attention because of a theory claiming Taylor Swift wrote the “Argylle” novel and that Elly Conway was inspired by Swift.
Many fans suspected Swift as the author because the first “Argylle” Instagram post was made on Swift’s birthday, Swift was seen wearing a “Conway” hoodie and owns the same cat featured in the film.
Director Matthew Vaughn denied the claim saying, “There is an Elly Conway who wrote the book, but it’s not Taylor Swift.”
“Argyle” is a perfectly serviceable flick with some tongue in cheek action, likable enough characters and an intriguing plot that travels down many roads and takes many detours. If you want something to watch on a day off and you don’t want to think too much, this movie is for you.
