Matthew Vaughn’s films don’t always hit the target, and they’re often accused of being tonally misjudged, but there’s no denying that he knows how to craft an exciting, adrenalised action film full of wit, invention, and often ludicrous spectacle. He’s done it again with Argylle, a witty and clever spy thriller from a script by Jason Fuchs that constantly surprises with the ingenious twists and turns of a plot that borders on the ridiculous yet never quite topples into extreme parody.
Argylle confounds its audience’s expectations from the off in a high-energy action scene clearly intended as a parody of old-school Bond as superspy Argylle (Henry Cavill) pursues the sultry LaGrange (Dua Lipa) around vertiginous coastal roads in Greece, and it’s as corny as hell. Then we discover that what we’re watching is a sequence from the latest spy thriller novel written by Bryce Dallas Howard’s slightly mousy cat-loving author, Elly Conway, being read to a breathless audience at a book launch reading. Elly has had huge success with a series of books based on her imaginary spy, Argylle, and when she finds herself facing writer’s block trying to find a suitable ending for her fifth book, she takes a train trip to visit her parents in Chicago in search of inspiration. But on the train, she meets up – coincidentally? – with Aidan (Sam Rockwell), an actual spy who quickly and creatively saves her from being attacked by a group of assassins from a criminal organisation known as the Division. It turns out that her novels have uncannily predicted the future of their operations, and they’re keen to find out what she knows and what’s going to happen next.
The subsequent two-plus hours are a dizzying, helter-skelter thrill ride of increasingly absurd (and frankly impossible) action scenes and wild globe-trotting wound tightly around a plot that gives a new meaning to ‘far-fetched’ and yet is irresistibly enjoyable because it all works and comes together inside the world the film has created for it. Howard and Rockwell are having a great time, and it’s clear that the rest of the cast are indulging themselves, too. There are great turns from Bryan Cranston, Samuel L Jackson, Catherine O’Hara and Chip the cat and while audiences may have been led to believe that Henry Cavill’s the star of the show here, his brief twinkling cameos are terrific fun.
Undoubtedly, some might find Argylle’s knowingness insufferable and a bit smug and become exasperated by the overuse of CGI/green screen, another example of the film playing with its own sense of unreality. But if you’re in the mood for some fast-paced, non-stop, irreverent action that turns its own genre inside out, then Argylle’s the one for you. Vaughn’s plans to launch a new franchise off the back of the film might not fly if early box office is any measure, but c’est la vie. Perhaps the campaign to get Vaughn on board to direct the next Bond film (if there ever is one) should start here – based on Argylle, he clearly knows just what it would take to shake 007 out of his doldrums and launch him back into the centre of action cinema again. But for now, if nothing else, Argylle is guaranteed to blow away those February blues.
ARGYLLE is in cinemas now
