Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is an introverted spy novelist who seldom leaves her home. She is drawn into the real world of espionage when the plots of her books, featuring a fictional secret agent named Argylle, start to predict real life events.
Argylle is the latest romp from director Matthew Vaughn, someone who has a fan base though that does not include me. I think this is his best film, and for the first-half, it had the potential to be one of the most fun of the year, even if the plot did resemble The Lost City. However, the second-half is a real mess. Elly’s character changes in a way that does not work, the plot has too many increasingly silly twists and there are a couple of badly judged action sequences – one involving dancing in smoke and the other featuring skating on oil – that seem to go on for ages.
Howard is pretty good throughout though and it is great to see Sam Rockwell as the spy who helps her. Amongst a star-studded supporting cast, the terminally wooden Henry Cavilll features far too much as Argylle. I have heard him being linked to Bond again after this role, and I sincerely hope nothing comes of those rumours.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10