Argylle Review- Goofy Fantasy Spy Movie Is A Welcome Winter Break

Clever and charming, Argylle is the movie of the winter and the perfect foil to those dark day blues after Christmas. Yes, it’s aggressively irreverent, but that’s by choice. A stacked cast and a dizzying array of seemingly never-ending twists are like cotton candy for the brain. Sure, it’s not groundbreaking, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun.

Director Mathew Vaughn’s Argylle is set in the same universe as The Kingsmen, for which he is also responsible. A post-credits scene blurs the lines between how these franchises are connected, so stay until the end. Both franchises share the same madcap hyper-fantasy cinematography that alerts you this isn’t a James Bond or Mission Impossible film where the stakes are life and death and action will be alarmingly realistic. Instead, this is a journey into a daydream reality where anything is possible, and occasionally, cats get shoved into backpacks for hours without anyone getting scratched or peed on. For those who found it derivative, maybe that’s fair, but it isn’t supposed to be a serious pastiche. This starry-eyed hommage could be fun when viewed with the right spirit.

The film opens with its first of many twists. We watch as a slickly wisecracking super spy Agent Argylle, Henry Cavill channeling Formal Wear GI Joe. He hunts and quickly cuts the rug with uber-villain LaGrange, Dua Lipa in form-fitting gold lamé. She thwarts his attempts at capture and a heart-racing and town-destroying chase later; she is almost lost before muscle-bound wingman John Cena plucks her from the back of a bike. The camera pulls back to reveal none of this is real. It is all part of successful author Elly Conway’s newest spy novel.

Argylle is actually the story of Bryce Dallas Howard’s bookish, Elly, in full Romancing The Stone mode. She has written four novels about Argyle, an international spy who just left his organization when he discovered they were the bad guys all along and trying to kill him. With the public clamoring for the fifth book in the series, she retreats to her remote home with her adorable cat Alfie and tries to finish the story. Unfortunately, the words are not coming as easily anymore, and she decides to travel to her parent’s house for help via train because she is terrified to fly.

She loaded up Alfie in his cat carrier backpack and settled in for a peaceful trip in first class. That peace is quickly broken, however, when she is accosted by scruffy stranger Aiden(Sam Rockwell), who finds himself leaping into action when nearly every other passenger on the train tries to kill Elly. The pair proceed to globe-hop from one dangerous situation to another, with Elly displaying some decent spycraft skills, much to her surprise. Throughout the fight scenes, of which there are many, Elly constantly sees Agent Argylle’s face superimposed first over Aiden’s and later over her own, making you wonder if fiction is following reality or the other way around.

The twists come hard and fast and take advantage of the strong cast. In particular, Catherine O’Hara is a national treasure. There is nothing she can not do, and her comedic timing is, as usual, so pitch-perfect that everyone around her is elevated. The bonkers action sequences are wild and hilarious, with the same sensibility as a Will Ferrell movie. You know it’s over-the-top and ridiculous, but there is such a sweet goofiness to it that you can’t help but laugh.

The CGI is laughable in the same way that it is in Blades of Glory or Talladega Nights. Like the Kingsmen movies, it isn’t intended to be realistic. Argylle is a bright pastel, smoked unicorn dream where anything is possible, and violence is always imaginary and without consequences.

The only thing I found troublesome was how quickly Argylle descended into rugged men saving the damsel in distress model. For most of the movie, that is a recurring theme that feels like watching anything from the 80’s. It’s a little traditional, but for those of us of a certain age, we don’t mind because we grew up with that messaging. Argylle is a little too long, especially once the final card is played, but the set pieces are so wildly absurd, and the fight scenes are so elaborately silly I understood the almost obsessive inability to edit.

When I first saw the trailer for the film, I was convinced the cat would somehow be the titular spy, Argylle. That’s how low my bar was and probably why I walked out with a smile. Yes, it had at least one too many twists. The poor cat looked like he was in a Wonka fishbowl too often when shoved in the backpack, and the final act dance/fight scene was so saccharine my teeth hurt, but I genuinely liked Argylle. It was a fantasy world I would gladly lose myself in for a while because January and February suck, and this was a good alternative. This film isn’t a serious spy thriller. It’s more as if The Anchormen were secret CIA spooks. If that sounds entertaining, don’t hesitate to buy a ticket. It opens theaters nationwide today.