Fast on the heels of Jason Statham's The Beekeeper and Reacher season two comes the much-hyped, big-budget A-listers-assemble action of Argylle. This is director Matthew Vaughn's fourth visit to the secret agent arena in succession after his Kingsman movies - he should've taken a break from the spy game and recharged for a bit before getting behind the lens again for this one.
Here, 'fact' collides with fiction as bestselling espionage author Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) becomes the hero in her own story. Just as she's finishing the new book starring her super spy creation Argylle (Henry Cavill), Elly is targeted by shadowy forces and has to go on the run with her beloved cat Alfie (naturally, the real star of the movie). Forced to live the life she has only written of, Elly puts her trust in a man of mystery (Sam Rockwell) - while listening to Argylle's voice inside her head and Alfie's in her backpack.
Despite its somewhat novel (no pun intended) plotting, Argylle is a textbook example of a film that's not a dud but doesn't bring enough to the screen to rank with popcorn's finest. It starts strongly with two excellent set pieces - one with the essentially cameoing Cavill, Dua Lipa and John Cena, the other with Howard and Rockwell - giving the impression that we're all set for The Bourne Identity meets Midnight Run with a 12A cert. Thereafter, things are a bit too long, stop-start and exposition-heavy to be in the company of the former, and Howard and Rockwell never reach the classic chalk-and-cheese chemistry of the latter - loads of guns and gadgets, not enough gags. That said, the ending has a bit of juice.
Argylle is envisioned as the first part of a trilogy. As a midterm break/blockbuster season stopgap, it's grand. More work must be done, however, if we're to see the humans again further down the line. No such hangups about an Alfie spinoff...
