“Argille”
Manager: Matthew Vaughn
Artists: Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill
Year: 2024
Premiere: 2/2/24
★★★
Matthew Vaughn returns to the shadowy edges of espionage cinema, weaving together wit, high-octane set pieces, and a sly sense of parody. Building on his earlier spy-tinged adventures, the director crafts a playful yet pointed trio of films that reimagined the genre. Argille continues this lineage, expanding the universe with a denser plot while leaning into the brisk, action-forward energy audiences have come to expect. The result is a brisk ride that hints at a larger, wittier design behind the spectacle.
Who is Argylle? A fictional character who exists inside a story about stories. A bold, determined spy—embodied by Henry Cavill, who has made a career of portraying calculating operatives—appears as a central figure within a narrative where fiction and reality begin to blur. The character is brought to life by the gifted creator of the bestselling spy novels, Bryce Dallas Howard, who turns conventional genre tropes on their heads with a wink. Yet as the conspiracies crafted by the author spiral outward, they begin echoing the activities of a real-world criminal network. As the novels unfold—four published, a fifth aligned to the start of the film—the leader of the syndicate, performed with a quiet menace by Bryan Cranston, grows increasingly volatile, tightening the circle around the novelist who sparked it all.
The protagonist, an introvert in daily life who prefers solitude with his cat Alfie, shows a fierce resolve when he writes. He remains unaware that the line between fiction and the actual world can be perilously thin. A train encounter with an agent who claims to protect him triggers a chain of chase sequences and gunplay that ricochet through the story. A standout moment features Dua Lipa in a villainous cameo that, despite hype, serves a smaller role in the overall arc. The film then pivots toward a grander action movie cadence while gently lampooning spy conventions, a tonal blend that Vaughan makes feel natural rather than heavy-handed. With spoilers avoided, the narrative unfolds through twists that keep the audience perched on the edge of their seat as reality and imagination collide.
Visually, Vaughn delivers his signature sheen, with meticulously composed frames and a vibrant palette that makes each sequence pop. Yet even as the script offers dazzling set pieces, it occasionally leaves gaps—moments where character motivation or connective tissue could be firmer. Nevertheless, Argille remains squarely a reflection on how storytelling shapes perception, and on how artists—whether they are novelists, filmmakers, or painters—can be drawn into the same theater that audiences inhabit. The film suggests that art itself can be a trap, a self-reinforcing loop where what is imagined becomes more real than the world outside. This meta-textual thread gives the work a distinctive edge, even when the formal choices lean toward spectacle over subtlety.
From a structural standpoint, the cast is set with care. The leads anchor the story while the supporting players push the plot into riskier territory. The throughline centers on memory’s circuitous detours and the hidden pathways that characters use to navigate truth. What follows is an exhibition of action choreography that prioritizes momentum and mood. A freighter sequence traverses the frame in a psychedelic blaze of violet and amber, while a high-stakes ice-dancing sequence substitutes a glazed ice surface with a slick, dangerous churn of power and propulsion. Each moment clarifies Vaughan’s intent: to thrill first, then to entertain with sly, encoded commentary about the nature of spycraft and storytelling alike.
At times Argille feels tuned to peak moments, occasionally neglecting the longer journey that would deepen the audience’s understanding of its world. Yet overall the film holds together through a gravity that underpins its bold set-pieces. It offers a surprisingly lucid portrait of how government entities and corrupt intelligence networks may pursue objectives under the cover of national security. The themes recall earlier explorations of memory, power, and the seduction of clever plots—an echo of late-era genre experiments that still resonate with audiences who crave both adrenaline and bite. Vaughn’s own iconoclastic approach—refusing to settle for easy answers—gives the work its distinctive voice and energy, making Argille not just a sequel in style but a reimagining of how spy cinema can be both exciting and thinking-person-friendly. A thoughtful blend of homage and invention, the movie finds room for humor, danger, and the strange romance of a tale told about a world where fiction and reality increasingly look alarmingly similar.