After months of seeing this trailer before virtually every film at AMC, my time has finally arrived to uncover who the real agent Argylle is!
And don’t worry. I won’t spoil it for you in this review.
“Argylle” is a secret agent and the protagonist of an espionage series written by Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard). However when the plot lines of her stories begin to play out in real-life, the worlds between reality and fiction begin to blur.
I confess, I REALLY wanted to love “Argylle.” As a fan of Matthew Vaughn, the cast and the overall concept, it was a recipe for a clever spy satire or just pure popcorn entertainment.
“Argylle” does start out enjoyable. It doesn’t take itself seriously and thrives on those stereotypical spy thriller tropes we all know and love. A large part of the first act’s charm and fun comes from a charismatic Howard, a cute cat and energetic action sequences that only a director like Vaughn could curate. Plus, any film that stars Catherine O’Hara gets bonus points in my book.
But then the film sharply pivots and it’s sort of all downhill from there.
Vaughn throws in some twists and turns that grow more and more preposterous with every moment of its bloated runtime — and the more he tries to make sense of the nonsense, the more convoluted and frustrating it becomes. Instead of being excited to reach the climax, I was just exhausted trying to keep up with it all.
Ultimately, I wanted more for “Argylle” and its talented cast. It isn’t a disaster but it is a disappointment, leaving me to wonder if it was better not knowing who Agent Argylle was afterall.
Heather's Hot Takes 