Despite Matthew Vaughn's signature action sequences, Argylle fails to entertain due to an uninteresting plot and a poorly edited finale.
Argylle (Henry Cavill doing his version of Roger Moore’s Bond) is on a mission to capture LaGrange (Dua Lipa, in a cameo) rather dramatically. The scene is supposed to be fantastical though as it’s been read by Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) from her latest in a series of spy books called ‘Argylle’.
It’s a stretch to believe such poorly written fiction is popular. But, Elly works hard on those books. Hard enough for her to reject a hot date to spend time with her cat, Alfie, and continue writing her books. Soon, she finds herself embroiled in a real spy mission.
The movie picks up when Sam Rockwell, playing Aidan, makes an appearance as a real-life spy. He is different from Elly’s Argylle in appearance and style. And he has an overall unappealing yet endearing vibe. Rockwell is well cast in the role, however, the action requirements seem a bit out of his reach. The movie plays on his image of an actor who dances in every movie he’s in by having him dance on multiple occasions. The scenes between Rockwell and Howard are the best part of the movie despite a lack of chemistry between them.
The more the plot develops, the more uninteresting it gets. Even Bryan Cranston’s bad guy (Walter White with hair) shenanigans can’t help the movie. The movie is star-studded and that’s probably because all of them must’ve been excited to work with Matthew Vaughn. But the only aspect of Vaugh’s film-making which, I’m a fan of, was realised in this movie was the action sequences infused with cool, quirky music. The action sequences in the finale, unfortunately, didn’t have the cathartic feel Vaughn was going for. The editing was poor and green screens were used excessively throughout the movie. The problem with green screens is they make the scene look unnatural and hence, cheap.
  Howard, on the other hand, is really good as the lead. She is affected by the brutality of the spy game, and as a writer of spy novels, she shows terrible instinct with weapons and action. That changes later on in the movie. In most action movies with women as heroes, the actors go extra hard in terms of training and appearance. Howard however, does it like a pro, with an attitude that’s convincing and justified for her character.
The plot of the movie doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. If the movie is entertaining enough, one can disregard that but the movie falls short there either. Vaughn doesn’t quite hit his stride with this one as he did with Kick-Ass and Kingsman: The Secret Service. No amount of cute cat close-ups can dig a movie out of a hole this deep. As a fan of Vaugh’s work, I am truly disappointed. As a fan of Howard and Rockwell, the movie isn’t half bad.