★★★1/2
When it comes to Argylle, I’m of two minds on the movie. For most of the movie, I couldn’t tell if was plainly one of the worst movies I’ve seen in a long time… or just dumb fun. My verdict?
Argylle is a very (VERY) goofy, but undoubtedly fun film. What can I say? It’s dumb… but I kinda liked it. It's a celebration and send-up of the spy genre, but taking things to over-the-top extremes — it’s excess is its biggest asset and also its biggest liability. As a certified Kingsman fan, I had some hope for Argylle. Was it fun at times? Sure. Was it also convoluted and sluggish? Absolutely. It lacked the charm of your usual Vaughn film — frankly, everything I loved about Vaughn’s style seemed to either be missing or just feel lifeless and hollow here. For instance, the action LOOKS like what we have come to expect from Vaughn, but has none of the stakes, intensity, or emotion. Instead, we get a tonal mess where I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to take the movie seriously or not. It just felt like a lot of wasted talent at times. Argylle is fascinating because it’s a decent movie wearing about four other movies worth of baggage. There’s a super fun energetic scene followed by a huge lull, a great twist followed by a long exposition, etc. It felt both overproduced and undercooked at the same time. Wildly uneven, much too long, but still enjoyable enough. It worked for me despite not being fantastic. It fits in alongside forgettable streaming films like Red Notice, Ghosted, and The Gray Man (even down to its bland visuals)… but this is certainly the most entertaining of the bunch, at least for me! Basically — if you liked the trailer, you should have fun. If you thought it looked too goofy, you'll think the movie is too goofy. For most, as much as I love the theatrical experience, this movie will work better once on streaming. Unfortunately, it really is what you’d expect from a Matthew Vaughn streaming movie.
To end on a positive note, I know this is technically a “bad” movie. But I liked it to some extent. So here is my unapologetic final thoughts on Argylle:
Argylle is a film that’s both dumb and smart at the same time. It’s pure silly spy shenanigans but also has some deceptively smart subtext about the writers-process. It’s vibrant, playful, humorous, sexy, and ridiculously entertaining. It is a super fun, slick, subversive action romp. Never taking itself seriously, its fantastic cast absolutely let loose. (LOVED Sam Rockwell!) There are so many twists and turns, most of which are somewhat predictable, but still managed to be fun. I just wish the reveal of who the real agent Argylle is wasn’t spoiled for me by a 3-year-old tweet announcing the production of the movie!
So did I like it? Yes. Did I think it was terrible and really dumb at times? Also yes.
Sorry… guess I’m not much help for this one!
Oh, also, can Matthew Vaughn PLEASE make Kingsman 3 already??
Film Info:
Comments