I have to start by saying I am a big fan of Matthew Vaughn. I love Stardust, Kick-Ass, his X-Men movies, and The Kingsman series, he is great at making comic book-style action movies. I had been excited to see Argylle, it was one of those movies that felt like I saw the first trailer about a million years ago.
How to Download Argylle
Argylle was released on February 2, 2024. You should be able to download or stream the film from Apple TV around two months later. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and check the availability.
The Movie Review
As well as the fact that this was a Matthew Vaughn movie, the stacked cast also had me excited. Henry Cavil, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, John Cena and the stunning Dua Lipa are all in this movie! However, even though my theatre had a huge poster of this with Henry Cavil front and center and he is a major presence in the trailer, I was kind of shocked to see that he is in this movie for 10 minutes tops!
Character Dynamics
Our two main characters are Elly and Aiden, played by Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell. Elly is a spy novelist who hates to leave her house and just wants to live her life with her cat. She is great at what she does, but perhaps she is a little bit too great! Bryce Dallas Howard is fantastic and so much fun in this role, to be fair, she is great in pretty much everything she is in!
Intriguing Plot
Turns out that for a big crime syndicate, Elly knows a little bit too much as her book is very, very close to something that is actually happening. This puts Elly in danger and she is sent to be taken out by this big syndicate and that is where our other protagonist, super spy Aiden comes into play.
Action Sequences
I love Sam Rockwell and his comedic and action chops are on full display here, he is undoubtedly the star of this movie and you can tell he was having a blast with this role. Aiden tries to help Elly stay alive and also figure out what is going on. I liked how while Elly was freaking out, she was not just a typical damsel in distress, her spy books and years of research come in handy.
Final Verdict
No spoilers here, but Argylle is a fun and crazy action movie. I do think that the movie has a couple of tonal shifts, but it kind of works. Yet, while I liked that, I can see some people thinking that it goes too far and is too weird and over the top for its own good. But, that was exactly what I enjoyed about it.
There are some awesome action scenes in this movie, one that is done through all this colorful smoke is what seems to get talked about the most. However, I found that scene hard to actually see, there is another action scene that comes later that blew my mind! When you see it, you will know exactly what I am talking about.
Argylle perhaps does last a tad too long for its own good. Clocking in at close to 2 and a half hours, I think the movie would have been better if they got it closer to the 2-hour mark. However, I would never say that it is boring, just the pacing can feel a tad off and there are a few scenes that make you wonder why they are even there at all.
While it is certainly not my favorite Matthew Vaughn movie, Argylle was a fun time, it is a popcorn movie, a movie you will have fun with while you are watching, but then forget much of in the coming days and weeks ahead. Still, I am glad I saw this and I probably will check it out again when it is released on 4K.
