'Argylle' Is Too Much of a Formerly Good Thing

'Argylle' (2024)

Director Matthew Vaughn continues his journey in the “Kingsman” franchise with a standalone spin-off called “Argylle”. In the movie, Bryce Dallas Howard plays Elly Conway, a novelist who writes a series of spy novels featuring her main spy, Argylle (Henry Cavill). One day, while on a train, she encounters Aiden (Sam Rockwell), a man who happens to be a real spy.

After saving Elly, Aiden reveals that her books have predicted real world events and that there are very powerful people coming after her. Namely, soldiers from the Division led by Director Ritter (Bryan Cranston) are the ones who want to know her secrets and how she knows the events that she has written about in her books.

From there on, the movie has every twist and turn you can think of for a spy thriller. Some of these are, admittedly, fun and clever while others feel like overkill. The same can be said for the action sequences.

Aiden (Rockwell) and Elly (Howard) try to discover a mystery in 'Argylle'.

If you’ve watched any of the “Kingsman” films, you know that Vaughn has a fascination with over-the-top action sequences. They also involve a lot of CGI and highly stylized sequences. This movie contains those sequences, but it feels like Vaughn goes too far with the silliness of these moments and they come off more as parody than anything that is meant to be taken seriously.

The performances are pretty solid, to be sure. Howard is great as the lead character and Rockwell as Aiden is another standout performance from an actor who always tends to stand out. Unfortunately, he’s a stand out in a movie that just doesn’t work.

At first, I was onboard. The moment Aiden helps Elly on the train, I was hooked but a few too many twists and over-the-top action sequences later, I was pulled right back out of the movie. The movie is big and dumb… and mostly just dumb.

It’s now known that this movie is a standalone spin-off of the “Kingsman” franchise. This is not hard to decipher when you look at subtle clues such as Elly drinking a beer from the Statesman and other revelations from later in the movie. Vaughn would like to make a series of “Argylle” films that will eventually crossover with the “Kingsman” series. 

Believe it or not, I’ve enjoyed “Kingsman”, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle”, and even the prequel “The King’s Man”. However, after watching “Argylle”, I’m truly questioning whether or not I need anymore films in either series of the franchise. Maybe it’s time for Vaughn to move on from this franchise.