Quick Thoughts on “Argylle” (2024)
A Shorter Review by Victor DeBonis
Sadly, “Argylle” is a huge mess. It’s a shame because I’m a huge fan of Matthew Vaughn as a filmmaker, and, when looking at the actors’ names attached to this, it sounds on paper as though there should be more to offer than what is on display.
John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson, and others have demonstrated charm in other projects, but the characters they play in this movie are barely given any time to breathe and allow any additional qualities to their presence shine. Even Sam Rockwell, who is one of the most charismatic actors imaginable and is sincerely trying to bring some rugged likability to this role, feels flat partly because he’s not given much to say or do outside of any standard spy role.
We’re supposed to believe that Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell are meant to be an item by the end, but there are barely any sparks between them as they interact on their quest. Very little time is allowed for these two to sit and have a meaningful conversation or do a ton of generous acts towards the other, and, as a result, their chemistry is lacking.
A romantic pair, such as, say, Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas in “Romancing the Stone” works because the movie involving them will genuinely let these characters pause and breathe to discuss what makes them tick or voice what drives them. In contrast, “Argylle” doesn’t let up with its own pace, and any time that is allowed to have a character discover something about who they are comes across as rushed, overloaded exposition rather than a carefully thought-out glimpse at who they are.
As far as the action goes, most of the sequences feel too rigid with their choreography, and, without spoiling anything, there is a visual element in many of the earlier fight scenes in which I can understand a little what the element was going for, but it was simply distracting in its execution. I’m not a massive fan of disco music, but the idea of utilizing them during fight scenes isn’t an awful one. Yet, the tunes chosen for the moments of combat in this movie feel too peppy to match with the already overly uneven energy and presentation of these fight scenes.
To this film’s credit, however, the battle scenes in the third act are admittedly creative and are directed with the delightful flair and insanity that feels in touch with the flair and delightful insanity we have come to expect from Matthew Vaughn. And, the writer in me did appreciate the movie taking a few minutes to show Howard’s character debating about how to proceed with penning a moment from her story and the actors and visuals humorously trying to decide what would make it work. This moment, while brief, was clever.
The second half of the movie perhaps makes the biggest mistake in trying to overload the audience with revelation after absurd revelation about specific characters, and the plot becomes overloaded to absurdity to such a heavy degree. It is hard to feel any interest towards a story when it is trying to do everything in its power to try to shock you or relies upon the idea of a twist automatically making a tale interesting or original. Toss one twist in my direction, and it’s admittedly a bit intriguing. Toss a dozen without any sense of pacing or allowing us to get a sense of who these characters are without providing time for us to see who they are before that, and it’s simply a jumbled mess.
On a side note, I didn’t care for this movie not showing much appreciation for the introverted character at the center of the movie. Bryce Dallas Howard’s character is not unrelatable or anything of that sort, but the plot eventually takes a certain distraction in which people of a different type of personality are presented with greater pride and doesn’t do anything to examine more of the positive qualities of who she is as a person as the story proceeds. As a result, “Argylle” certainly doesn’t hate introverted people by any means, but the story also didn’t strike me as the kind to present them in a very strong light, either, and it didn’t make me too happy as a quieter person.
People, “Argylle” just wasn’t a fun experience. Matthew Vaughn is, to be sure, an insanely talented filmmaker who paints his work with a distinct heart and love for chaos. I love the original “Kingsman” film, and “First Class” is easily one of the best X-Men movies, the type that still puzzles me as to why the franchise didn’t go more in the latter’s direction following that fantastic work. There is plenty of greatness on the surface of this movie in terms of who is involved and their efforts to try to salvage a script with much to be desired and an execution trying too hard to frequently trick its audience with characters who have little to nothing to them.
I will always be eager to see what Vaughn and the other great actors involved do in the future. As far as this movie goes, however, it’s definitely a mission I wouldn’t accept again any time soon.
Grade: D+