By far, ARGO is director Ben Affleck’s most complete film;
it is engaging, entertaining, extremely well-crafted and tells an important
story in the history of our nation, and the world. For those of us old enough
to remember, the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979 was a stunning and world-stopping
event, and even though those who lived through it already know the outcome,
much like APOLLO 13 before it, ARGO still manages to keep you on the edge of
your seat.
Tony Mendes (Ben Affleck) is a CIA agent whose specialty is
extracting people out of hostile territory. Tony is tasked with coming up with
a plan to extract six Americans out of a violent Tehran who have taken refuge
in the Canadian ambassador’s home. Mendes best plan is to come up with a fake
movie production company looking to shoot a fake science fiction movie in Iran.
With the support of his boss (Bryan Cranston), Mendes recruits some Hollywood
bigshots (John Goodman and Alan Arkin) and puts together a scheme to get the hostages
home disguised as filmmakers.
ARGO has a very simple plot; get the six people home. It is
simple but effective thanks to the great atmosphere set on the stage by
Affleck. Great lengths are taken to push the point across of just how dangerous
the peril is, which makes the cover story of a fake film seem less likely to
succeed. ARGO is nearly a double-feature; it spends a lot of time as an
international espionage thriller under great peril, all while playing the game
of making a movie in Hollywood. There are several shifts in tone, but they
never jar you out of the picture and blend together nicely.
Affleck does a marvelous job in balancing the humor and
lightheartedness with the danger of the situation. ARGO is saturated in film
lore, the least of which are many throwbacks to the political spy thrillers
which dominated the decade from which the film takes place. Besides that,
Affleck does great work in building tension; making everything from a phone
call to walking through an airport a blood-pressure raising experience. There is also some excellent blending of
archival footage, which makes the film seem very real and as if the events were
unfolding live on network television. It
really is masterfully done.
Once he steps out from the behind the camera, Affleck takes
command again with his acting. It is probably his best role; giving all the
calm coolness that a CIA man would have, all while keeping that slight fear of
failure just out of sight. Bryan Cranston also turns in a great role, but the
film is nearly stolen by John Goodman and Alan Arkin, who are perfectly matched
to their real-life Hollywood counterparts.
ARGO succeeds not only because it is in the hands of a very
skilled director, but because so much thought and care was put into the setup.
Once the stage was set all the many pieces and parts which ARGO is made of come
together like a perfect puzzle. Ben Affleck has put together one of the best
movies of 2012.
BOTTOM LINE: See it
Great review (as always)! I'll be doing a bit of a follow in my Blog for Saturday. I was indirectly involved in the story about the rest of the hostages! It's the only time in my life I've spent virtually the entire night in a bar! The late Bob Dennis (my photogapher)and I were in Larksville waiting for the mother of one of the hotages o get the phone call telling her that her son (and the others) had been released. She owned the bar and we got video of her call when it came through! Loved the movie on the other 6!
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