Be warned: the official marketing for Argylle is a little misleading. From February 2, 2024 you can see it for yourself in the cinema. Image source: Universal Pictures/Apple TV
Continue with GameStar Plus
If good games are important to you.
Special reports, analyzes and background information for role-playing heroes, hobby generals and single-player fans – from experts who know what is being played. Your advantages:
All articles, videos & podcasts from GameStar
Free of banner and video advertising
Easy to cancel online
Henry Cavill gave up Geralt’s silver blade and Superman suit. And to the great regret of his fans, who saw the actor as the Understand the highlight of the Netflix series The Witcher or the now canceled DCEU. But why dwell on old camels when you can look to the future with optimism?
With Argylle, Henry Cavill is finally back in a new action film, for which there are already major franchise plans. Director Matthew Vaughn is responsible for this, who delivered two film series with Kick-Ass and Kingsman that still have loyal fans behind them today.
But Argylle doesn’t make a big splash – neither for Matthew Vaughn nor for Henry Cavill. Because the film, with a packed star cast, an exciting premise and plans, disappoints more than it can convince. Argylle is more The King’s Man than Kingsman.
About the author: Vali has written a shocking number of articles about Henry Cavill in recent months. But what does he want to do, GameStar readers are passionate about the (former) sorcerer and man of steel. Of course Vali can’t and doesn’t want to blame anyone for that. Cavill is a cool actor who won the hearts of many gaming fans with his passion for Warhammer and tabletop. This even goes so far that Vali has now written more about Henry Cavill than himself in his author list. Well hopefully no one notices.
What is Argylle about?
The story of Argylle is a bit more complicated than the film is comfortable with. Argylle revolves around the successful author Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), who produces one bestseller after another with her spy novel series.
Their stories are about the fictional agent Argylle (Henry Cavill), who saves the world again and again. However, Elly suddenly finds herself in the sights of a real secret service, led by a rather grumpy guy named Ritter (Bryan Cranston).
Because for some reason Elly’s Argylle adventures report incidents that actually happened, are currently happening or are yet to unfold. And that makes Elly valuable for espionage organizations, but also extremely dangerous. Top spy Aidan (Sam Rockwell) comes to her aid, although Elly cannot be sure whether she can trust him or not.
The author and the agent are now trying together to uncover the secret of her creative mind and also to find out who the real agent Argylle is. You can get a concrete impression of the plot in the official film trailer:
video">
2:43 Henry Cavill as a fictional agent: What is written in the action film Argylle becomes reality
Who is Argylle interesting for?
Fans of Matthew Vaughn probably won’t be able to avoid Argylle anyway. The new film is in a very similar vein to (obviously) Kingsman: a spy film that comes with a lot of humor, doesn’t take itself too seriously and throws the claim to realism overboard from the first minute.
Be warned, however: Argylle is not the successful start to the next big action franchise that Apple has gambled on as the new streaming giant. After the disappointing Kingsman: The Golden Circle and the even weaker prequel The King’s Man, Matthew Vaughn definitely doesn’t get back on his feet with Argylle.
Possibly because Vaughn and screenwriter Jason Fuchs simply overextended themselves. Because there are big plans for the future of Argylle even before the cinema release: at least two film sequels and a TV series could come, and there is also talk of a Kingsman crossover.
But instead of concentrating on a successful start, Argylle collapses under the weight of its own ambitions. The plot is unnecessarily complicated, which is what dialogues bursting with exposition try to fix. At the same time, Argylle grossly underestimates the attention span of its own audience by using unnecessary flashbacks to regurgitate even the most obvious.
There is a more exciting film somewhere in Argylle that occasionally shines through. Image source: Universal Pictures/Apple TV
Lots of stars, but little to marvel at
With Argylle, even the really impressive cast full of talented actors doesn’t pull any punches. The frightening prime example: Without an exciting backstory or understandable motivation, Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Malcolm in the Middle) is forgotten faster than I inhale a cup full of popcorn before the film starts.
Anyone who expects a lot from Henry Cavill or John Cena will be bitterly disappointed. The scenes of both actors can be counted on one hand, because their fictional adventures only make up a fraction of the actual plot. Instead, Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell are the inevitable stars of the show.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, both definitely have the talent and charisma to carry an (action) film of this magnitude. For example, just think of Moon, 7 Psychos or the Jurassic World series.
Who is Argylle, all well and good. WHERE is Argylle?
Anyone who has even seen a trailer or even a poster of Argylle will probably go to the cinema with completely different expectations: The film Argylle, in which Henry Cavill plays a top spy named Argylle, deals frustratingly little with Henry Cavill in the role from Argylle.
At least I couldn’t shake the feeling in the cinema seat, that a Cavill/Cena mission without unnecessary meta nonsense would have made a much more exciting spy film. And somewhere Vaughn seems to be of the same opinion: Argylle 2 should actually be dedicated to Henry Cavill’s title character – if it comes to fruition at all.
This mishmash results in a tough screen experience of almost two and a half (!) hours, which is too rarely lightened up by the cleverly staged action sequences. Here, at least occasionally, the talent of director Matthew Vaughn shines through, who brought us Kingsman Harry Hart’s unforgettable church slaughter bestowed.
Why is Argylle not completely convincing when it comes to the action? The sometimes really disastrous CGI makes it clear that the impressive budget of 200 million US dollars flowed primarily into the cast must. The film also suffers from a bit of an identity crisis that has serious consequences.
Argylle never really knows whether he wants to be really funny and light-hearted or rather serious and darkly humorous. A balancing act that Matthew Vaughn mastered with Kick-Ass or Kingsman, but Argylle is more like one of those unpleasant fail videos. Anyone who is mean or just younger than me might even say cringe.
2024-01-31 19:28:47
#Film #review #Argylle #Henry #Cavill #save #film
