11 Recent Movie Plot Twists You Never Saw Coming

To be clear, Argylle - the story of Ellie (Bryce Dallas Howard), a spy novelist who is being pursued by real spies because her novels keep predicting real-world events - is a terrible movie. An inane and lifeless action comedy frequently devoid of thrills or laughs, this is a film so bland it makes Kingsman: The Golden Circle look like Kick-Ass. 

Still. Argylle's mid-picture twist is legitimately brilliant when taken on its own terms. 

The reveal that Ellie's father is actually Ritter (Bryan Cranston), the villainous intelligence agent seen in earlier scenes, is a genuine jaw-dropper. That's not quite as shocking as what happens next though, when Ellie's own parents try to kill her. 

Not long after, Ellie meets former CIA Director Alfie Solomon (a completely wasted Samuel L. Jackson), who explains that she is actually a former spy suffering from amnesia. Her 'parents' are both members of an antagonistic spy organisation called the Division, who pretended to be her real parents and took her in. Her novels are a result of her suppressed memories from her time as a spy, and they were just waiting for her next book to reveal the location of the 'masterkey' (the film's generic MacGuffin). 

This was, honestly, a great twist in its own right. Argylle might be painfully unoriginal in most ways, but it did at least have one genuinely clever idea up its sleeve.