‘Argylle’ is an amusing fish-out-of-water picture in which a writer’s life starts to imitate her art when she’s ensnared in one of her espionage stories.
Whether comedic or dramatic, spy movies always have the potential to be very entertaining. There’s usually a mystery element to engage audiences and captivating personalities to hold their attention. The hero is often put in impossible life and death situations, forced to find ingenious solutions to survive. The villain has certain stereotypical traits and a tendency to be overconfident that they’ll successfully execute their scheme. There’s also a fair amount of action spread throughout the narrative as the opposing sides repeatedly confront each other. Argylle has all these things and more as a novelist becomes unexpectedly entangled in an espionage venture.
Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the popular author of a series of spy books featuring the title character, Argylle (Henry Cavill). She’s in the midst of completing her next novel, but has yet to figure out its ending. On route to work it out with her supportive mother (Catherine O’Hara), she’s intercepted by real-life spy Aidan Wilde (Sam Rockwell) and a group of men trying to kill her. After Aidan rescues Elly and her cat, Alfie, he explains that her novels have uncannily mirrored actual events, making her a priority target for a cloak-and-dagger agency very similar to the one featured in her books and the only way to stop them is to finish her story.
Since 2014, director Matthew Vaughn has helmed the Kingsman franchise, releasing a new adventure featuring the gentlemanly spy organization every few years. Although this movie doesn’t appear to have a direct connection to the series, a link is revealed by the end of the film. That said, it does share in all the fun audiences have come to expect from these films, including entertaining fight sequences, humorous character encounters and multiple plot twists. The result is a fast-paced, fun movie that doesn’t feel like 139 minutes because there’s never a dull moment and all the reveals make sense within the narrative, even if some viewers find them predictable.
The cast is also impeccable. Howard plays an intelligent woman and burgeoning cat lady, who also happens to be too terrified to practice anything she’s conceived for her books. Rockwell is the charming, rough-around-the-edges knight in shining armor that rescues the damsel in distress, while repeatedly convincing her to push through death-defying situations. Meanwhile, Cavill plays the fictitious, suave secret agent, supported by John Cena and Ariana DeBose. And there’s several other notable cast members, including Bryan Cranston, Dua Lipa, Richard E. Grant and Samuel L. Jackson, who’s roles are best discovered by watching.
Alfie the cat plays prominently in the narrative, but the movie really does belong to the wonderful humans who bring the story to life and ensure the time audiences spend in theatre is not wasted.
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell and Henry Cavill
