ARGYLLE

Argylle opens in a typically Matthew Vaughn way. Agent Argylle (Henry Cavill and his ridiculous haircut) doing his best James Bond impression. He wonders up to a VIP area, and charms his way into dancing with the beautiful, malevolent, femme fatale LaGrange (Dua Lipa).

The dance is ridiculous, stuffed to the brim with overblown moves and on the nose dialogue, and when things go awry Argylle finds himself in a fun, yet overtly (and I suspect deliberately) CGI’d car chase through a Greek coastal town. 

After apprehending his prey Argylle learns that everything he believed to be true was a lie, setting up a revenge fuelled romp through his past.

And then the screen falls away. 

This is not the film we’re watching. It is, instead, the ending of Elly Conways (Bryce Dallas Howard) most recent book in the Agent Argylle series.

Yet as we will soon find out, what she has written, may not be so far from the truth, as she is revealed to be, in an enjoyable encounter with Sam Rockwells Aiden Wylde, something of a fortune teller in the real life intelligence world. 

Elly and her cat Alfie will have their world turned upside down as they are dragged into a world they believed to be a work of fiction. 

It is a high concept premise, which impressively manages to hold together it’s many twists and turns throughout its runtime. 

And Argylle has an incredible cast to help it on its way. Other than those already mentioned the film features Richard E. Grant, Catherine O’Hara, Brian Cranston, Sofia Boutella, John Cena, Ariana DeBose, Jing Lusi, Rob Delaney and Samuel L. Jackson

Rockwell is though, as is often the case, the real star here. As Wylde he is given the opportunity to really lean into his goofy side, but also hit some emotional beats as well. 

He is an actor who is willing to be swept up in Argylles flights of fancy, but is also capable of grounding it in its more serious moments. He is the character who feels closest to being real, and the one we end up rooting for as the film progresses.

Also in the cast - Chip the Cat as Alfie. Chip is the real cat of Matthew Vaughns family, and has become, since the first images were released, the unofficial mascot of the film. 

His appearance does, however, feel like something of a gimmick. The image of Chip in his backpack is a strong one (though one that has drawn the ire of a number of animal welfare charities), but the cat itself feels largely superfluous to the plot. 

He does have the occasional moment where he does something of note, but for the majority of the film he just exists, and it can’t help but feel like his inclusion was far more for promotional reasons than narrative ones. 

Take the cat away, and you’re left largely with the same film. To the point that I almost forgot to include his appearance in this review at all.

This is a film, however, that does have a lot of style, as you might expect from Matthew Vaughn. Cinematographer George Richmond shoots it incredibly well, and the action scenes never fail to disappoint. Whether it’s using the confines and claustrophobia of a train, or having a characters dancing through clouds of gas with machine guns - in a scene which is unashamedly over the top and unabashedly fun -  it is a film that manages to look fantastic from start to finish.

It is not a film which should be taken seriously, but I don’t think anyone behind the camera particularly expected you to. As my friend Maggie said after we saw it, it is a film that needs to be taken in the spirit in which it was intended. Argylle was never meant to be an ultra serious spy action film. It is a pastiche, not just of spy films, but of spy books as well, where the writing can leave a little to be desired. It’s not quite a parody, but also not too far away from that either.

The dialogue is cheesy, the action over the top, and has more twists up its sleeve than M. Knight Shyamalan on acid, but, for me at least, it worked. 

The twists themselves keep on coming from almost the first minute, and it is to Argylles credit that the film never manages to tie itself in knots. Even in the moments where it looks as if it has gone too far, and things have stopped making sense, the next reveal manages to restore balance to proceedings.

Director Matthew Vaughn has been open about how Argylle and an as yet unnamed third franchise, will eventually join the Kingsmen series in the same universe for a major crossover film. And it is here, in these comparisons, that Argylle does falter somewhat.

Because, for all it is hugely entertaining at times, it never quite has the same edge that made the first Kingsmen especially such a talking point. 

The style and flair, now almost eponymous with Vaughn, is there. The use of music in the action scenes is, as always, excellent, yet something feels missing.

It seems somewhat watered down. In both the action and the comedy - and I say this as someone who didn’t find the “shocking” jokes in Kingsmen particularly shocking.

Perhaps this was necessary in order to give each of the franchises something different, to make them feel distinct, but when the director himself is talking about how the two will come together it is almost impossible not to compare them.

And when you do compare them Argylle can’t help but feel a little like the runt of the litter.

And that’s not to say it’s bad. I think almost everything I’ve written up to this point shows that I really enjoyed it, its just that I can’t shake the feeling that it could have been more.

Argylle is, when you accept it for what it is, a really fun time. It is, of course, never one that will trouble awards season and does, at times, fell a little slight when compared to some of Vaughns other work, but as a silly, excessive action comedy, it fulfils its remit, while leaving doors open for future instalments.

“The greater the spy, the bigger the lie” might only just be the beginning.