“Elly Conway” (Bryce Dallas Howard) lives in her remote lakeside home writing spy novels that are going down a storm. Her conclusion to the fifth in the series about the eponymous, “007”-style agent perplexes her mother, though. What happens next? Well wait til book six would seem to be the obvious answer, but mom (Catherine O’Hara) insists so “Elly” decides to take train to visit her parents – and that’s mistake number one. Onboard she encounters a rather scruffy looking chap “Wilde” (Sam Rockwell) who is reading one of her books. She tries to hide her identity, but when he gets to the fly-leaf then her secret is out. That’s soon the least of her worries as she and travelling cat “Alfie” are soon caught up in something straight out of one of her books! She can’t fathom why she’d conceivably be the target for any nasty people, but her new found friend soon convinces her that there is someone she has to meet – and pretty quickly she’s embroiled in an whole new world of mystery, intrigue and danger! It’s a bit of a slow start this film, with a slightly annoying flicking between her real life and those of her characterisations (that’s where the “Action Man” style of the sparingly used Henry Cavill appears) but once we establish who is who and what’s going on, we are straight into “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” territory with loads of rapid-fire escapades that though hardly original, do have some fun twists and turns as we progress to a denouement that is derivative, but still quite enjoyable to watch. The initial concept is quite original and though the execution largely an amalgam of other Matthew Vaughn features, it still works quite well even if it is far too long, with Rockwell clearly having some fun here and the cat remaining largely contained in it’s capsule throughout!

Such a peculiar film. Everything about it feels off.

I was initially a little unsure as to what I thought about ‘Argylle’, but in the end: it’s a no from me. I couldn’t actually tell you one thing that I properly liked about this, like at a push Sam Rockwell and Bryan Cranston are decent but even they get a bit hit-and-miss. There’s just a constant tinge of lousiness that follows around throughout.

Bryce Dallas Howard feels miscast, even if she is fairly likeable. Henry Cavill is wooden (intentionally? doubtful), as is Dua Lipa but the musician has enough charm to make it work slightly. Speaking of music, all that is used here is alright but again feels off – mostly seems like the correct type of song, just the wrong exact choice of song… “Electric Energy” might grow on me, though.

What also doesn’t help is the unavoidable feeling that it is a bad redo of ‘Kingsman‘, which is expected given who directed this and all that they are planning with the two flicks behind the scenes. I’m all for a shared universe, though this is perhaps too on the nose. There are also ‘The Lost City‘ (itself echoing ‘Nim’s Island‘) vibes sprinkled in too. Another negative is the special effects, especially at the start… less said, the better.

Overall, I think it all boils down to being a poor film – unfortunately, as I kinda wanted to like it but simply couldn’t. Actually, it’s just come to me, I just remembered a scene I actually did truly enjoy: the one with Leona Lewis’ “Run” track. That was actually entertaining.

Utterly ridiculous but fun
So if you are going into this, you have to know it’s gonna be a little campy. Similar to The Kingsman, there are moments of heart, action, and absolute craziness.

Some of the scenes were a bit much, but overall this was a fun, and Interesting movie. Some of the scenes were overly dramatic and we’re similar to Deadpool’s opening scenes as well.

The twists in the story were definitely different, came one after another. All of the actors were on point, and I loved the switches from Argyle to Real life. The worst part was the CGI cat. And I don’t think Samuel Jackson said MFer once. I was shocked.

Stupid nonsense with a five minute Henry Cavill Bond demo reel
Argylle is a long, dumb, CGI-riddled mess. In other words, it’s the standard modern day Hollywood movie. Some aspects are fun but the whole thing drags on and on until you’ll be checking your watch every five minutes in hopes that it will be over soon. There is an abundance of CGI and a lot of it is terrible(especially the cat) and it makes the movie look fake but that’s the norm these days. I’m not even sure if they filmed any scenes in London because the exterior shots looked really bad to me. Some of the hand to hand combat is pretty decent but for the most part I didn’t care about what was happening at all. Additionally, some of the twists in this worked but overall it just kept doing more and more of them and became a convoluted wreck.

Furthermore, the trailers and posters for this film straight up lie. They have you believe that Henry Cavill will be the star of the movie but he’s in this for all of maybe five minutes at most. Those five minutes prove that he would be a great James Bond but I bet that will never happen because why make the correct choice and cast someone that is perfect for a role. Additionally, John Cena is in this for even less time and it makes me wonder why they even bothered casting him as he must’ve cost them a fair amount of money for what amounts to a cameo. The rest of the cast is fine and I like Sam Rockwell so it’s nice to see him in a leading role. On the other hand, the comedy doesn’t land at all and no one in my screening was laughing at any of the jokes. I think think the PG-13 rating hurts the movie by making it too tame and making it Rated R would’ve helped it a bit.. If this thing was made in the 90s it would’ve been much prettier, shorter, bloodier and most importantly, more fun. Argylle, however is just nonsensical, looks awful and overstays its welcome.

It’s disappointing when a film has an intriguing premise but fails to deliver the goods in the end. Such is the case with director Matthew Vaughn’s latest, an action-adventure/comedy about an author of spy novels (Bryce Dallas Howard) who stumbles into a real-life espionage scenario that matches the plot of her latest novel, embroiling her in a web of ever-shifting intrigue with various nefarious parties. The problem here is that the film never quite latches onto a dedicated focus to make the picture work. Some of the comic bits are indeed quite funny, but they frequently get bogged down by a meandering story line that’s trying to follow a more conventional, twist-laden thriller format. It leaves viewers asking, “So what’s it going to be?” There’s also more than a little derivative material thrown in, such as story threads we’ve already seen before in movies like “Romancing the Stone” (1984), “The Long Kiss Goodnight” (1996) and any number of James Bond flicks. While it’s true that this release is intended to be a spoof of these titles (especially in scenes featuring Henry Cavill as a hilariously hammy 007 knock-off), there’s a big difference between paying tribute and playing unrepentant copycat. Then there’s the picture’s excessive length, coming in at a bloated 2:19:00 runtime, far longer than it needs to be, a failing attributable to an often-needlessly complicated plot, one that begins to try audience patience at times, especially in the back half. “Argylle” also features a cute, cuddly cat, Alfie, as a central character (at least in its trailer), but, like the narrative overall, the film doesn’t quite seem to know what to do with the supposedly frisky, fickle feline, an impression far different from what’s conveyed in the picture’s video marketing. All of this is a shame, because this title has both potential and some apparent strengths going for it, such as a fine soundtrack, superbly choreographed action sequences, and an excellent ensemble cast with the likes of Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Ariana DeBose, and a seriously underused Richard E. Grant, not to mention fine turns from Howard and Cavill as alter-egos of one another. This one isn’t nearly as bad as many critics have made it out to be, but it could have been substantially better with some significant retooling and judicious editing. “Argylle” apparently has ambitions to become a new franchise, too, but we’ll have to see if that materializes based on what kind of box office draw it ultimately produces. At this point, though, I think it has its work cut out for it.

Cringe worthy nonsense, loaded down with puerile premise after puerile premise, predictable, done to death action and irritating characterisations.

I managed about half of this before walking away. The US entertainment industry really is a bit of a bad joke these days.

Utterly ridiculous but fun
So if you are going into this, you have to know it’s gonna be a little campy. Similar to The Kingsman, there are moments of heart, action, and absolute craziness.

Some of the scenes were a bit much, but overall this was a fun, and Interesting movie. Some of the scenes were overly dramatic and we’re similar to Deadpool’s opening scenes as well.

The twists in the story were definitely different, came one after another. All of the actors were on point, and I loved the switches from Argyle to Real life. The worst part was the CGI cat. And I don’t think Samuel Jackson said MFer once. I was shocked.

Argylle – It’s really dumb, but it’s also fun.
Have you ever watched a movie thats so absurd and brainless that it actually works? Argylle belongs to that group – as Matthew Vaughns latest is gladly a crowd-pleasing action flick that is full of smart twists and epic action sequences. There’s no doubt that it does get ridicule at times, with huge logic gaps and absurdity – but this movie embraces its silliness, dedicating its writing to plot-twists that are so well thought out that you would never guess them coming – making Argylle an action movie that stands out enough to be enjoyable.

When the movie started rolling, I at first couldn’t get invested in its storyline. The narrative seemed generic andd full of irrefutable plot holes. However, I remembered Matthew Vaughns genius. What he sold us in Kick Ass and Kingsman were ridiculously entertaining and thoughtful action flicks, and I had hope Argylle was going to turn in to the same – and boy, it did. The best aspect of this movie is, no doubt, its incredible and provocative plot-twists which really add this sense of unpredictability to this film and keeps you smiling always. These really start to kick off from the half-hour mark – whenever you predict whats about to happen, we get the total opposite – and there’s clever hints skillfully layered around foreshadowing and setting up these twists to make you smile when they happen. It’s definitely arguable from another perspective that they aren’t justified enough, as they do question more potential plot holes – however this is what adds to the unpredictability and distinct nature of this movie

The ensemble cast also just adds to the fun. Everyone does a great job, but Sam Rockwell’s character is the most entertaining and easiest to root for.

This fun isn’t without its issues, though – as its main one is its lack of any emotion or layers within our characters. They are often unconvincing and bland, with the only form of character dynamics coming from our protagonist and their partner in crime. Apart from that though, we have no reason to care for our characters, any of them in particular. The CGI is often horrific at times too. It shows its decency in some fight-scenes, but in others it is truly appalling.

Ultimately, and despite the movies issues, Argylle and It’s absurd plot (that I don’t want to talk about as there are just too many twists!) will keep all audiences engaged, purely thanks to Vaughn and the writing teams genius plot-twists that make this movie one to definitely check out, standing out from the hoard of movies in its genre. And thats just what we need from it, especially in this day and age where politics and global issues distract us from having a good time!