Bestselling author, Elly Conway, lives a low-profile life, while she writes her espionage style novels. That is, until she finds that the plot of her newest novel mirrors very closely some interworking’s of some actual spy networks. Now wrapped up within these networks, Elly, must determine who is friend and who is foe and not let the words on the pages of her book become a reality.
One of the reasons I was looking forward to Argylle as much as I was, was due to the star-studded cast that would be appearing. From Bryce Dallas Howard to Henry Cavill, and even Dua Lipa, the star power is here. Plus, everyone who is in the movie is quite good in their roles. However, despite the insane roster of stars here, and the quality of the performances, a lot of them don’t quite get their time to shine. Some of the stars that were at the heart of the marketing only appear on screen for what feels like seven minutes or less. On-screen for most of the time is Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell, and while they are a joy to watch, it is a bummer that the filmmakers decided not to utilize their star power as well as they could have.
One of the places this movie really shines in is within its action sequences. Director Matthew Vaughn has lots of incredible experience with putting together action that feels unique and somewhat reinvents the wheel, and this movie is no different. All the action scenes leave you on the edge of your seat and are incredibly satisfying to watch. There are some action sequences that contain CGI, and it isn’t always the best. That said, the action on display here makes up for the short comings of the special effects. If I’m being honest the action in Argylle may just be Vaughn’s best work in the genre and is worth the price of admission.
Another thing that Argylle has going for it is the concept at its core. The idea of a writer unknowingly mirroring spy network activities in her novels is interesting. However, the writing of Argylle has a little trouble focusing, and it really feels like this plot is just bouncing all around and isn’t as developed and explored as much as it could’ve been. In many instances throughout the movie there are exposition dumps that are necessary to move the story forward, but had the writers dug into some of the concepts a little deeper, they wouldn’t have had to barrage the audience with these incredibly dense exposition sequences.
At the end of the day, Argylle is a fun enough movie that just needed some more tweaking to make it great. Matthew Vaughn put just enough of his action-packed, and wacky charm on it to elevate it up to an enjoyable level. I’m going to give Argylle a 6 out of 10, and I’m looking forward to seeing what crazy concept Vaughn hangs his hat on next!