Jammy dodger
ARGYLLE Cert 12A ★★★ In cinemas now
Ispy with my little eye an outlandish caper that begins with a bang. Intended as the first chapter of a rumbustious spy universe that will eventually rub shoulders with the dapper Kingsman, director Matthew Vaughn’s latest actionpacked romp opens with breathlessly choreographed carnage, one delightfully discofied dance sequence and tongue wedged firmly in cheek.
A testosterone-fuelled prologue introduces globe-trotting secret agent Argylle (Henry Cavill) and his associates – muscle man Wyatt ( John Cena) and spunky field tech Keira (Ariana Debose) – on the trail of seductive terrorist-for-hire Lagrange (pop siren Dua Lipa). These largerthan-life characters are the creations of reclusive novelist Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), who has just completed the manuscript for the fifth Argylle book.
Fiction bleeds into reality during a cross-country train journey when bona-fide spy Aidan (Sam Rockwell) rescues Elly and her beloved pet cat Alfie from knife-wielding assassins. They’ve been ordered to kill the writer because her bestsellers predict real-life global espionage perpetrated by the diabolical Division.
Vaughn delivers trademark slam-bang thrills with gusto but something didn’t click for me in the opening 90 minutes, although there’s no obvious missing ingredient before the slickest stunt sequence you’ll see all year. The plot of Jason Fuchs’ script twists and turns like a cornered rattlesnake, Howard and Rockwell are an adorable double act, and Cavill fully embraces a flat-top haircut borrowed from Dolph Lundgren’s brutish Soviet Union boxer in Rocky IV. But something is still amiss.
It is like biting into the most delicious looking doughnut, expecting to be blown away by the heady combination of flavours, only to discover the jam is missing.
Disappointment builds with each successive mouthful and then just as you are resigned to being short-changed, the final couple of bites reveal the intense burst of fruity flavour you have been craving all along.
Next time, please pump up the jam.
‘‘ Cavill’s secret agent and team is on the trail of terrorist-forhire Lagrange