Five months after the first trailer’s release, the star-studded film “Argylle” reached theaters on Feb. 2.
Headlined by a stacked cast featuring Bryce Dallas Howard, Henry Cavill and Sam Rockwell, “Argylle” was poised to be the first blockbuster of 2024. Instead, it made just $18 million its opening weekend, solidifying it as the first real flop of the year.
In some ways, this film’s mixed reception makes perfect sense. Many of the problems “Argylle” suffers from is rooted in the plot. The film seems determined to jam-pack as many misdirects and reveals into the script as possible, and the project suffers from it.
Viewers spend very little time understanding the motivations of any character other than the protagonist, Elly Conway (played by Howard). The film also features a few absolutely ridiculous scenes toward the end that completely take the audience out of the movie.
Most of the cast give lackluster performances, the biggest offender being Rockwell, whose character comes off as more unlikeable than the quippy spy he’s attempting to portray. Cavill and John Cena are criminally underutilized, and Samuel L. Jackson is completely wasted on a character who appears in essentially one scene.
Despite its problems, “Argylle” has plenty going for it. While much of the cast seems to phone it in, Howard is exceptional in the movie. Her lead performance deserves a much better film and features the only hint of nuance found anywhere in the screenplay. Bryan Cranston also delivers a respectable performance, although confined to a more limited role.
“Argylle” also has an excellent visual style. The action in the film is extremely well choreographed and shot, featuring eye-catching stunts and setpieces throughout the movie. The cinematography, while inconsistent, has moments of brilliance, where color pops through the frame in a legitimately exciting way.
All in all, “Argylle” is a bizarre, needlessly complicated and deeply flawed movie that is somehow entertaining from start to finish. If the film had embraced the silliness of its premise, rather than try to be a more serious movie, it could have been better. Instead, the film fails in many ways but manages to avoid being boring, which is really all you can ask for from a movie like this one.
