History Film / Argylle

'''Aiden:''' Real life spies.\\

'''Aiden:''' Because you're a goddamn fortune teller, Elly. What you wrote in your new book actually happened and you kicked a hornet's nest you didn't even know existed.

Elly Conway (Howard) is the reclusive (preferring the company of her cat Alfie) and mild-mannered author of a wildly popular series of novels about a [[TuxedoAndMartini dashing super-spy]] named Argylle (Cavill). When the events in her novels start mirroring real things, Elly's world gets turned upside down and she has to go on the run with the help of real-life spy Aiden Wilde (Rockwell), while a rogue organisation led by Director Ritter (Cranston) is determined to figure out what else Elly knows.

* EleventhHourRanger: [[spoiler:Keira, an agent Elly worked with during her time as a spy, was initially presumed "killed in action" but turns out to be NotQuiteDead and appears just in time to save Elly and Aiden in the climax.]]

** [[spoiler:In contrast to her real identity of Rachel Kylle, an ActionGirl who was "the best of the best" in the CIA and Division, as amnesiac Elly Conway, she reacts exactly the way you'd expect any normal person with no combat experience to respond when a bunch of assassins come after her and Aiden brutally kills them in front of her: lots of screaming, cowering, trying to run away, and reluctance to get involved in violence herself. Just compare this to when Rachel gets her memories back and mows down scores of mooks with ease.]]
** [[spoiler:On a less serious note, Elly's closest and dearest companion is her cat, Alfie. Aiden, who's allergic to them, complains to her after TheReveal of her real identity that Rachel didn't even like cats and was "a dog person." Even after Rachel's memories are restored, she keeps the trait of liking cats, or at least Alfie, and is still doting and protective over him, while Aiden accepts that Alfie's not going anywhere and has begun taking medication by the ending to manage the allergy.]]
* AmnesiacResonance: In spite of the above, [[spoiler:even after Elly's memories of her previous life as Rachel were suppressed by her brainwashing, they bubble to the surface in the form of "creative ideas" and "characters" that she brings to life in her ''Argylle'' book series. The adventures that Agent Argylle, Wyatt, and Keira have in her books come from the real adventures that Rachel, Aiden, and Keira had. She also instinctively reacts to Aiden trying to punch her and pins him to the ground without even thinking about it, which is what convinces her that he and (human) Alfie are telling the truth about her identity.]]

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Right before a gunfight, Aiden explains Elly she'll have to make sure the mooks are dead by stomping their head and crushing their skull, stating that the skull is "surprisingly brittle." In real life, the human skull is quite sturdy, and the danger of head blows comes primarily from the brain banging against the cranium.

* BattleCouple: [[spoiler:Rachel/Elly and Aiden were this before she was amnesiac and brainwashed, and become this again once her memories return.]]

** When Elly is taking a train to see her mother, Aiden sits down across from her. After taking time to chat, one man walks up and attempts to stick her with a hidden needle. When he fails, everyone else in the car attacks Aiden, with more coming from other cars.
* ChekhovsGun: One of the most literal versions ''ever''. We're introduced to "Clementine," Ritter's shotgun, which he literally has on the mantle of the fireplace in his office, early in the film when he loads it and kills an underling with it, showing that it's there, functional, and Ritter as ammunition and the will to use it. In the third act, he takes the gun off the mantle [[spoiler:when he goes to deal with Elly and Aiden personally.]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: [[https://comicbook.com/movies/news/argylle-movie-poster-henry-cavill-matthew-vaughn-dua-lipa/ One of the posters]] features all the characters standing in a V shape. The central character is Agent Argylle cradling Alfie (the cat), despite Argylle being an in-universe fictional character without much onscreen presence [[spoiler:(though the in-universe ''Argylle'' franchise is integral to the plot)]] and Alfie being just the heroine's pet. Immediately next to Argylle are [=LaGrange=] (another in-universe fictional character, with ''very short'' onscreen presence) and Alfred Solomon (a real person with an important role in-story, but still without much scenes). Elly and Aiden, the ''actual'' main characters, are standing farther away and not in the central position. Wyatt, another fiction-only character, is closer to the center than the actual BigBad (whose identity as such isn't even a mystery).

* DanceOfRomance: Between Elly and Aiden. In the middle of a gunfight. With multicolored smoke bombs being set off and thrown all over the place. Proving both of them are {{Dance Battler}}s to the max.
* DentedIron: By the time of the climax, [[spoiler:Aiden]] has received a severe beating and a non-fatal shot to the chest but is still able to patch his wounds up and give a good account of himself in the final battle.

* FakeDefector: [[spoiler:After learning that she was the one who murdered Bakunin, as well her myriad crimes detailed in the master file, Rachel seemingly abandons all her scruples and joins up with the Division for real. She tells Ritter to dispose of her cat because she remembers she hates cats, and then coldly guns down Aiden during his interrogation, convincing everyone that she really was EvilAllAlong and has remembered her true self. This is all a ploy to make the Division let down their guard while she secretly sends the master file to Alfie under the guise of helping them track him down. If it wasn't for additional cybersecurity protocols she hadn't anticipated, her plan would have gone off without a hitch.]]

** Aiden remarking that Elly got basically everything right except Argylle's appearance, remarking how much someone like that would draw attention hints that [[spoiler:she is the real Argylle]].

** Carlos ([[spoiler:the bearded Hispanic man who spoke at Elly's book reading]]) noticeably says to Elly and Aiden after cornering them in the train "Don't make me kill both of you." [[spoiler:Because the Division, contrary to Aiden's belief, weren't going to kill her, they wanted to bring her back into the fold.]]

** Several times, Aiden gets upset or annoyed with Elly for not being helpful during fights, reacting realistically to everything that happens, and in the most extreme case, not ''stomping on and crushing the mooks' skulls'' to make sure they're dead. It seems quite unreasonable and harsh to expect an ordinary civilian to quickly pick up on and adjust to seeing people die and brutally killing them herself, [[spoiler:but makes far more sense after learning that Elly is really ActionGirl Rachel, and that she and Aiden were lovers. It hurts him to see the badass woman he fell in love with, whom he ''knows'' could kick these guys' asses into next week without batting an eyelid, being so helpless and defenseless in a fight.]]

** When Aiden and Ellie first work together to decipher Bakunin's clues, in Elly's mental projection Aiden actually takes Wyatt's role rather than Argylle's [[spoiler: because he actually is Elly's partner and she is the real Argylle.]]
* GenreThrowback: Creator/MatthewVaughn has described ''Argylle'' as his ode to classic action films from the [[TheEighties 1980s]], such as ''Film/DieHard'' and ''Film/LethalWeapon1987''. According to some, Creator/SamRockwell's character Aiden Wilde evokes the character of Jack T. Colton (Creator/MichaelDouglas) from ''Film/RomancingTheStone''.

* HollywoodHealing: [[spoiler:Aiden]] takes a wound that looks instantly lethal but is theoretically survivable given treatment, and then manages to be fit to fight given a few minutes of self-applied first aid.
* HomageShot: The shot of the Division {{mooks}} standing outside the armory waiting for Elly and Aiden to come out of it and getting smoke bombs thrown at them by the two heroes is staged the very same way as Richmond Valentine's mooks doing the same against Eggsy in ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService''. Moreover, the bright colors of the smoke bombs recall the bright colored explosions of heads in the same film.

* ICallHerVera: Ritter has a rifle in his office that he refers to as "Clementine", and he prepares to use it against Elly and Aiden near the end.
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler:Ruth activates Elly's [[ManchurianAgent brainwashing trigger]] and forces her to fight Aiden, he tries to get through to her and eventually refuses to fight back altogether.]]
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Is it possible for someone to be shot center mass in such a way that the bullet does not damage any major veins, arteries or organs? Probably. It's unlikely that someone would be able to make that shot on purpose, [[spoiler:especially given that Elly hadn't handled a gun in years]]. Aiden himself actually [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this in the third act of the movie.
* IronicEcho: Fairly early in the movie, Aiden gives Elly advice on how to stomp on a man's skull properly, likening it to dancing as he tells her to "twist and crush". In the FinalBattle, he once more gives the same advice but much more somberly [[spoiler:to Elly/Rachel when she's in ManchurianAgent mode and about to kill him because he can't bear to fight back against her.]]

* ManchurianAgent: [[spoiler:The brainwashing Rachel/Elly was subjected to also included trigger words and a trigger music box's tune to control her, which Ruth uses in the climax to try having Rachel kill Aiden.]]

* MistakenForJunkie: As Elly describes what she just lived through with Aiden to her mother, her mom asks if she's been experimenting with drugs.

* NoEscapeButDown: After finding Bakunin's notebook, Aiden and Elly have no choice but to escape by jumping from the roof of the building onto a barge. To demonstrate the safety of the jump, Aiden throws poor Alfie first.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:Aiden in the climax due to Elly intentionally missing shooting him in the heart by a few centimetres, also Keira who gave her the idea in the first place.]]
* OneManArmy: Both Aiden and later [[spoiler:Elly/Rachel Kylle]] are shown to be more than capable of singlehandedly carving their way through dozens of enemies.
* OutOfContextEavesdropping: Elly overhears Aiden state that "Elly Conway needs a bullet to the head" and assumes the worst. [[spoiler:He actually means he hates her fake personality as he was in love with her real self, Rachel Kylle]].
* PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo: Attempted. When [[spoiler:Vogler]] pours Aiden and Elly some tea in Arabia, Aiden pointedly swaps cups with her then insists she drink first. Unfortunately, all three cups are drugged.
* PoorCommunicationKills: When they are at the London motel, Elly accidentally hears Aiden telling someone on the phone that he's irritated with Elly and even wishes he could shoot her down. Elly naturally takes it as a threat and leaves - not knowing that Aiden was simply expressing his frustration [[spoiler:because he's in love with Rachel, Elly's real identity, and dislikes how Elly is so different from her]].

** During the first combat scene, Elly keeps hallucinating Aiden as Argylle. Throughout the whole scene, the pattern of these hallucinations is Argylle's performance in the fight is better than Aiden, who doesn't lose but the bad guys get a few hits in while they never do with Argylle. [[spoiler:This is because Elly's suppressed memories as Rachel Kylle, who Aiden admits is a better fighter than he is, are resurfacing, and she's remembering the way she would likely have fought.]]

* SarcasticConfession: Aiden admits to being a spy when he first meets Elly, something she doesn't believe at first.

* ShoePhone: The first enemy spy who comes for Elly passes as a fan of her books and has a shiv springing out of a pen. He's quickly neutralized by Aiden.

** When Aiden urges Elly to write the next chapter to her novel, he says it does not have to be long like ''Literature/WarAndPeace''.
** Self-referential for Matthew Vaughn. During their visit to Hyde Park, Elly and Aiden are seen with a can of [[Film/KingsmanTheGoldenCircle "Statesman"]] brand beer. [[spoiler:TheStinger takes place in a pub named "Film/TheKingsMan", complete with the Film/{{Kingsman}} symbol.]]

* VillainRespect: One Division agent tells off another for disparaging Aiden, insisting the man was a legend.

** When Elly [[spoiler:reviews the contents of the master file, she's horrified to find that ''her own crimes'' are listed there. She's then cornered by Ruth and forced to remember that she'd actually [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness murdered the hacker after he'd given her the master file's coordinates]], leading to her injury when he activated a DeadMansSwitch. Her ruthlessness also made Ruth and Ritter believe that she truly ''was'' a loyal Division agent, and they actually planned to reinstate her instead of [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness dispose of her]] as Aiden believed.]]

* WillfullyWeak: During his [[spoiler:IKnowYoureInThereSomewhere fight with Elly, Aiden]] pulls his punches and eventually refuses to fight back altogether.

* WouldntHitAGirl: Aiden puts the two female mooks on the train into sleeper holds rather than kill them, unlike all the other mooks.

* ArtisticLicense: [[spoiler:Elly realizes she can take out a bunch of mooks by attaching knives to her boots and skating along the oil-covered floor, letting her move much more gracefully while they can only slip and skid, based on her memories as an ice skater. In real life, this wouldn't happen, as ice skates are designed specifically for, well, ice, not metal surfaces covered in oil. If it were played with any realism, she'd have fallen flat on her face the instant she tried to skate. [[RuleOfCool Still pretty cool though.]]]]

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Is it possible for someone to be shot center mass in such a way that the bullet does not damage any major veins, arteries or organs? Probably. Is it likely that someone would be able to make that shot on purpose, [[spoiler:especially given that Elly hadn't handled a gun in years]]? Really, really, '''really''' doubtful. Aiden himself actually [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this in the third act of the movie.

* WishFulfillment: Not explicitly stated, but in a similar vein to Matthew Vaughn's Film/KingsmanTheSecretService, the movie plays out like a cat-lady's fantasy dream from start to end: A single woman in a not-so-exciting life was suddenly dragged into a completely new situation by the actions of a [[spoiler:new badass love interest, who told her she's capable of being much more than she thought of herself. When finally acknowledging her true calling, she TookALevelInBadass and start accomplishing amazing feats she previously did not believe she could accomplish]].