First Argylle Trailer Features All-Star Cast, Terrible Haircuts

No one in Hollywood these days whips together a garish, action-driven cinematic smorgasbord quite like Matthew Vaughn does. Like his gratuitous Kingsman films or not, the director has pioneered a specific over-the-top style, which immediately makes this first trailer for Argylle seem right up his alley. Of course, that’s provided you’re able to tear your eyes away from elements such as the CGI cat, or Henry Cavill’s truly upsetting hair, which looks like it’s caught between that of Ivan Drago and a Virtua Fighter character. At least the trailer has an excuse, though: This version of Cavill is actually a pulp spy novel hero, the protagonist of a film-within-a-film. Or as the official synopsis puts it:

Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), an introverted spy novelist who seldom leaves her home, is drawn into the real world of espionage when the plots of her books get a little too close to the activities of a sinister underground syndicate. When Aiden (Sam Rockwell), a spy, shows up to save her (he says) from being kidnapped or killed (or both), Elly and her beloved cat Alfie are plunged into a covert world where nothing, and no one, is what it seems.

We’re told in the trailer that the content of Elly’s spy novels, featuring the character of Argylle (Cavill), have actually begun occurring in the real world, meaning this concept now invites comparison to the perennially underrated Stranger Than Fiction. It’s up to an all-star cast that also includes the likes of Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cena and … Dua Lipa, to figure out what the hell exactly is going on. Oh, and Elly’s CGI cat is along for the ride for the entirety of this adventure as well. Speaking of CGI: Did they somehow employ it to make a 54-year-old Sam Rockwell look like his 20-something self again? Or did they just pop out a clone, in the style of Moon?

We’ll presumably figure it out for ourselves when Argylle lands in theaters on Feb. 2, 2024. Meanwhile, check out the trailer below.