A part of Argylle's misleading marketing campaign
What follows contains many, many spoilers
I was out of the country for the first two weekends Argylle was in U.S. theaters. It hasn't been doing well at the box office, so I decided I better go while I could for the theatrical experience.
Director Matthew Vaughn is all about style over substance. When he's clicking, that's fine. With Argylle, he has more misses than hits.
Argylle concerns a novelist named Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), who has written a series of novels featuring superspy Argylle (Henry Cavill), who sports a J. Jonah Jameson haircut. Her novels supposedly predict the future and she's now the target of spies and assassins. But another agent, Alden (Sam Rockwell) comes to her aid.
Of course, things are even more complicated than that. Nothing is what it seems. Eventually, we're told that Elly is really an agent named Rachel Kylle, or R. Kylle. She's had amnesia. Her novels are basically repressed memories.
The weak link in all this is Bryce Dallas Howard. Naturally, Elly/Rachel eventually becomes a kick-ass operative again. But Howard, a good actress, is totally unconvincing as a great spy. For much of the last part of the movie, she is wearing what's supposed to be a sexy dress. It looks more like an expensive maternity dress.
Also, in the action scenes that Howard does with Rockwell, both perform all sorts of physical bits effortlessly. Part of Vaughn's tendency toward style over substance, I suppose.
One of the prototypes for a kick-ass woman character was Diana Rigg as Emma Peel in The Avengers in the 1960s. But Emma Peel had to strain and visibly exert effort before vanquishing her foes. Elly/Rachel in Argylle is pure fantasy. A viewer doesn't feel much attachment.
There are good performances by the actors, who do the best with the material they're given. But overall, Argylle is the answer to a question nobody was asking. GRADE: D-Plus.
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