Author Elly Conway’s quiet life is suddenly threatened by a secret organization due to the plot of her upcoming book by super spy Argylle.
Matthew Vaughn’s movies are cool. THE Kingsman, Kick-Ass, Layer Cake. Like Quentin Tarantino, James Gunn or his compatriot and friend Guy Ritchie, the Briton creates works with skillful dialogue, polished aesthetics and carefully selected music. They generally also include a good dose of violence.
Argyle is in this lineage, but is distinguished by an incredible scenario and more madness.
Despite the success of her spy novels, Elly Conway (bubbly Bryce Dallas Howard) leads a quiet life. One day, while taking the train to visit her parents, she is attacked by a horde of mysterious assailants. Fortunately, she had just met Aidan (Sam Rockwell, surprisingly uneven), a real spy who is the complete opposite of Agent Argylle (perfectly caricatured Henry Cavill), star of the harmless writer’s novels. Together, Elly and Aidan will try to understand how her books affect reality and face ever-increasing threats.
The tone ofArgyle evolves at the same pace as its narrative. While the first act leans more into comedy, the story becomes more complex and the humor becomes rarer in the second. Once the plot becomes completely implausible – but still entertaining – the film concludes with two huge crazy action scenes. We may find that they lack seriousness, especially after having raised the stakes so much, but we cannot blame Matthew Vaughn for lacking audacity. What we can criticize him for, however, is that he stretched the sauce. Two hours would have been enough to tell everything.
Those hoping to see if Dua Lipa is a great actress will be disappointed. The singer shines brightly when she’s on screen, but the moment is brief. The roles of John Cena and Ariana DeBose are also limited. More present, Catherine O’Hara and Bryan Cranston are great. Samuel L. Jackson, for his part, inherited a character that was much more subdued than the one he played in Kingsman: The Secret Service.
Matthew Vaughn does not hide the influence of James Bond on his work. In many ways it is even more evident in Argyle. When we asked him in an interview if he would like to make an Agent 007 film, he replied that “you should never say never”. “I grew up with Bond. I love this universe since I saw The Spy Who Loved Me in the cinema in the 1970s. I even told Henry Cavill to combine Sean Connery and Roger Moore for his role. I don’t think the opportunity to shoot a new Bond is going to arise, but if it does, I would certainly consider it. »
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Action comedy
Argyle
Matthew Vaughn
With Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill
2:19 a.m.
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