The Oscar onslaught is ramping up and Argo is the current source of awards buzz. This is Ben Affleck's third film as director (he is also the lead actor) and offers definitive proof that the man knows what he's doing behind the camera.
Argo is "based on a declassified true story" and demonstrates that a real spy story can often be wilder than fiction. The movie begins in 1979 and the opening scenes quickly educate the audience on the lead-up to the Iranian revolution, setting the stage for the storming of the American embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis. Most people know about the unfortunate Americans held hostage at the embassy for more than a year, but Argo's focus is on six Americans who escaped and took refuge at the Canadian ambassador's house. Once Washington gets word of the situation, the State Department must come up with a plan to exfiltrate these six Americans without rousing the suspicions of the Iranians.
Affleck plays Tony Mendez, the CIA's exfiltration expert, and he realizes the State Department has no clue what it's doing. Their proposals are ridiculous, so he counters with a proposal that is so crazy it just might work. Using the CIA's contacts with a makeup artist in Hollywood, Mendez creates a fake production company based around a script for a terrible sci-fi movie called Argo. This allows for a great deal of hilarious insight into showbusiness and how simple it is to bankroll a fake movie that's bound to be a flop. The movie is supposed to take place in Middle Eastern landscapes and will allow Mendez to enter Iran under the pretense of scouting filming locations. Once in Iran, he can meet the six Americans, furnish them with Canadian passports and fake identities that make them a part of his fake film crew, and get them on a plane out of Iran.
As Mendez's boss explains to the State Department, their only options are bad options, and this is "the best bad plan" the CIA can offer. So Mendez sets off for Iran, and a pulse-pounding thriller ensues. The six Americans are understandably wary, and adopting a new identity over the course of two days seems crazy for people with no CIA training. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and the stakes are too high to not give this extraordinary scheme a chance. Although the film's conclusion is inevitable, you fervently follow the action, wondering how on earth these people are going to pull off this insane mission. And the film ends with an interesting look at the diplomatic repercussions of the incident, as well as giving some much overdue acknowledgment to the people involved.
Argo is tightly-scripted, fast-paced, funny, dramatic, and edge-of-your-seat fantastic. The production design and cinematography is impeccable, steeped in a late 70's aesthetic down to the use of the old Warner Brothers logo as the film begins. The cast is a dream team of TV and film fa Overall, this is a brilliant movie, and the fact that it is based on a true story only cements its brilliance.
Argo is "based on a declassified true story" and demonstrates that a real spy story can often be wilder than fiction. The movie begins in 1979 and the opening scenes quickly educate the audience on the lead-up to the Iranian revolution, setting the stage for the storming of the American embassy in Tehran and ensuing hostage crisis. Most people know about the unfortunate Americans held hostage at the embassy for more than a year, but Argo's focus is on six Americans who escaped and took refuge at the Canadian ambassador's house. Once Washington gets word of the situation, the State Department must come up with a plan to exfiltrate these six Americans without rousing the suspicions of the Iranians.
Affleck plays Tony Mendez, the CIA's exfiltration expert, and he realizes the State Department has no clue what it's doing. Their proposals are ridiculous, so he counters with a proposal that is so crazy it just might work. Using the CIA's contacts with a makeup artist in Hollywood, Mendez creates a fake production company based around a script for a terrible sci-fi movie called Argo. This allows for a great deal of hilarious insight into showbusiness and how simple it is to bankroll a fake movie that's bound to be a flop. The movie is supposed to take place in Middle Eastern landscapes and will allow Mendez to enter Iran under the pretense of scouting filming locations. Once in Iran, he can meet the six Americans, furnish them with Canadian passports and fake identities that make them a part of his fake film crew, and get them on a plane out of Iran.
As Mendez's boss explains to the State Department, their only options are bad options, and this is "the best bad plan" the CIA can offer. So Mendez sets off for Iran, and a pulse-pounding thriller ensues. The six Americans are understandably wary, and adopting a new identity over the course of two days seems crazy for people with no CIA training. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and the stakes are too high to not give this extraordinary scheme a chance. Although the film's conclusion is inevitable, you fervently follow the action, wondering how on earth these people are going to pull off this insane mission. And the film ends with an interesting look at the diplomatic repercussions of the incident, as well as giving some much overdue acknowledgment to the people involved.
Argo is tightly-scripted, fast-paced, funny, dramatic, and edge-of-your-seat fantastic. The production design and cinematography is impeccable, steeped in a late 70's aesthetic down to the use of the old Warner Brothers logo as the film begins. The cast is a dream team of TV and film fa Overall, this is a brilliant movie, and the fact that it is based on a true story only cements its brilliance.
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