Watched in the cinema (20th visit in 2024)

When director Matthew Vaughn throws himself into a new project, he does it properly: there are to be two sequels and a prequel series to his new agent actioner "Argylle" - even though the first film is only now being released in cinemas (and then at some point on Apple TV+)."At least it's not a new Kingsman", you might say. Because after Vaughn (successfully) tried his hand at various genres in his earlier creative period with films such as "Layer Cake", "Stardust" and "X-Men: First Class", he has only made "Kingsman" films for the last 10 years - and the quality has clearly declined.

So can "Argylle" rehabilitate the Brit to a certain extent? In my eyes, the answer is a resounding no. Worse still: "Argylle" could be the low point of Vaughn's career as a director so far. While glimmers of his energetic style and ludicrous ideas shone through his "Kingsman" films despite their declining quality, "Argylle" shines above all due to the absence of all the tricks that Vaughn seemed to have mastered in the past."Argylle" almost seems like a testament to the fact that Matthew Vaughn has not developed any further as a narrator and director since his first "Kingsman" film and is still putting on the same show he has been for a decade now. In 2010, "Argylle" might still have attracted attention due to its slightly anarchic approach, but nowadays - when directors like James Gunn have long since arrived in the mainstream - "Argylle" no longer elicits a shrug of the shoulders.

This is particularly evident in the action scenes: the wildly shaking camera and the pop song background simply don't knock anyone's socks off anymore. It's no longer fresh and wild - it's predictable and bland. Just like the film's story, which takes place on a meta-level between fiction and reality that has already been used many times and gradually brings the agent stories written by author Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) into the reality of the film. Tonally, "Argylle" takes a completely confused approach - after an hour, nobody knows whether this is supposed to be satirical.After all, a satire needs a clever trick at some point to take a familiar story to a new level. But "Argylle" doesn't have this. One cliché after another is ticked off here in exemplary fashion - everything runs on autopilot and looks incredibly ugly due to the extensive use of green screen.

This is a shame for the actors and actresses - but they are also all just running on autopilot. Bryan Cranston and Samuel L Jackson mostly just sit or stand in rooms and look at screens. John Cena and Henry Cavill usually have nothing more to do than stare fixedly towards the horizon. Pop star Dua Lipa and Sofia Boutella are the epitome of marginalisation with their 3-minute appearances (and really have no place on the posters).At least Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell bring a lot of joy to the action. If their characters hadn't been written with so little tension, this pairing could almost have created some charm. But it wouldn't have saved "Argylle" either.