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Plot Summary: A reclusive author who writes espionage novels about a secret agent and a global spy syndicate realizes the plot of the new book she's writing starts to mirror real-world events, in real time.

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Writer: Jason Fuchs

Runtime: 2 hours 19 mins

• Henry Cavill as Argylle
• Dua Lipa as Lagrange
• Ariana Debose as Keira
• Richard E. Grant as Director Fowler
• John Cena as Wyatt
• Bryce Dallas Howard as Elly Conway

Review by: Samuel

What I Liked

Okay so Sam Rockwell and Bryce Dallas Howard- who are the stars of the film despite the poster- are the heart, soul, and shoulders of this film. They carry us through the run time brilliantly. Sam Rockwell in particular is someone I want to shout out. I don’t think he’s as mainstream as he deserves to be, but the man is an incredible actor and has perfect comedic timing. His charisma and charm are infectious from the moment he enters the film in an excellent train sequence (shown in the trailer).  Dallas Howard has been killing it behind the camera recently (see her episodes of the Mandalorian- AMAZING), so it was nice to see that she is just as incredible when in front of the camera as well. Her chemistry with Rockwell is palpable. Her initial plight, while itself is surreal, feels somewhat relatable due to how she acts and reacts to these situations.

I said “initial” plight in my last sentence because this movie has many obstacles for our heroes to overcome. That leads to the next thing I loved- the clear satire towards old spy movies. The twists, reveals, reactions and all the like are so over the top and so exaggerated that it gets cheesy- but it’s a fun cheese. It’s the stuff you see and just laugh at because old spy movies had these tropes and took them very seriously; but clearly Matthew Vaughn and the actors are just having fun with it.

Another thing I love is Matthew Vaughn’s style. Similar to Tarantino, Bay, and Fincher, Vaughn has a distinctive directing style that instantly lets you know it’s his film. There will be flashy scenes with quick action, crazy camera angles and rotations, and LOTS of color. This film in particular has some of the best fight choreography that you’ll see. It’s certainly not all perfect (some are downright mediocre) but the scene on the train and a scene involving oil near the end are an absolute blast.

What I Didn’t Like

The satirical nature of the film that I said I loved is a double-edged sword, because all the twists and reveals that are packed into the film make it too long- a common critique these days. It should be about 20 minutes shorter, but I can at least say with this one that I understand why it is so long.

Next, Henry Cavill is billed as a major star in this film and he might have a total on 10 minutes screen time. This issue isn’t the “false advertising” but for what he is in the film, it kind of feels like he’s shoe-horned in unnecessarily just to justify his star billing.

I also want to add that while I personally liked the flash and substance, I will add that some of the action scenes are hard to follow visually- particularly one involving smoke- which I imagine a lot of people will not like.

The only other thing I can criticize is the actual “spy” aspect of the film. The initial mission is quite interesting as you try to unravel why/how this author can somehow predict real life espionage events. Up until the big twist, I enjoyed the narrative being told. After that, I liked the story well enough but it just became predictable and the subsequent twists weren’t all that surprising.