I’ll be the first to confess: director Matthew Vaughn’s films have always represented a mixed bag to me.
“Layer Cake,” “Kick-Ass” and “X-Men: First Class”? Sure. Those worked.
However, I’m one of the few who think the “Kingsman” films are just…just…well, let’s say they’re a big “meh.”
He returns to the spy, action-comedy realm of those movies with “Argylle,” which proves to be more meh and often “too cute by half,” to quote my mother.
It’s convoluted, and the plot is too loose for its own good. It contains more than its share of twists, but none are so exciting as to lift the film out of an overall funk even as Vaughn attempts to marry it to an absurdist sensibility.
That in itself is disappointing because the film, written by Jason Fuchs (“Wonder Woman”), held some potential, but ultimately gets in its own way with the number of twists and turns it takes to go along with an excessive runtime. It’s a film where everything is not as it seems, and that’s not necessarily good.
We meet agent Argylle (Henry Cavill), he of a severely bad haircut, chiseled chin and hyper-macho demeanor.
He and his partner (John Cena) are in the midst of an operation that goes horribly and tragically wrong − or are they?
Argylle, as it turns out, is a literary creation from the mind of Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard of “Jurassic World”), and it’s soon revealed she has a psychic connection to the character and his adventures.
She learns this because Aidan (Sam Rockwell) informs her and is soon whisking her off on a series of dangerous, mind-bending adventures as she comes to learn the genesis of Argylle and his colleagues.
Those plot twists will at least hold the audience’s attention, but after each is revealed, they are easily forgotten, no matter how absurd they ultimately feel.
As for the comedic elements, while the film possesses a devil-may-care tone throughout, some choices at the film’s climax prove interesting. Those moments of questionable lunacy prove to be more head-scratching than laugh-inducing, though.
If there is any aspect of the film that works, it’s a performance from Rockwell as Aidan, who goes gonzo in buying in on the film’s concept and tone. Rockwell’s Aidan is empathetic to Elly’s plight and, more importantly, he injects the film with some much-needed energy when his character arrives approximately a half hour into the proceedings.
Rockwell has always possessed great comedic sensibilities – witness “Galaxy Quest” – but he also has the range to hit the right notes dramatically in a film such as Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell.”
You only wish his performance was able to mesh with Howard’s. While she is fine in her role as the disbelieving, put-upon author, the two of them together do not possess the chemistry needed to pull this off.
Ultimately, “Argylle” falls into Matthew Vaughn’s “meh” category.
George M. Thomas dabbles in movies and television for the Beacon Journal.
Review
Movie: “Argylle”
Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson
Directed by: Matthew Vaughn
Running time: 2 hours 19 minutes
Rated: PG-13 for strong violence and action and some strong language.
Grade: C