Argo (2012)

• Year: 2012
• Released: 12 Oct 2012
• Country: United Kingdom, United States
• Adwords: Won 3 Oscars. 94 wins & 156 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024648/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Argo
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/argo
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 2160p
• Language: English, Persian, German, Arabic
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller
• Runtime: 120 min
• Writer: Chris Terrio, Tony Mendez, Joshuah Bearman
• Director: Ben Affleck
• Cast: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman
• Keywords: biography, husband wife relationship, 1980s, cia, revolution,

	7.7/10
	86/100

Argo Storyline

In late 1979, anti-American sentiments are running high in Iran due to the US harboring the ailing former Shah of Iran, who the US put into place in the 1950s, and who many Iranians saw as causing much hardship and death for residents over his close to thirty year reign, solely for his and his family’s own benefit. In November, Iranian militants, working under the name of its new leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, are able to break through the secured perimeter of the US Embassy in Tehran. The fifty plus embassy staff are able to burn or shred most of their documents before they are taken hostage. What the Iranians are unaware of is that six embassy staff members escaped just prior to the raid, and managed to take refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador, Ken Taylor, and his wife, Pat. Fast forward two months… The situation has not changed, and the State Department has brought in the services of the CIA, both to free the hostages and extricate the six in hiding. Tony Mendez with the CIA is the lead consultant on the six. Although many, in his mind, implausible plans are hatched to extricate the six, Tony eventually comes up with what some others believe is an implausible plan: have the six, under Canadian passports, pretend to be a film crew in Iran scouting for locations, with Tony part of that film crew to lead the six out himself. On the advice of Tony’s Hollywood advisors, make-up artist John Chambers and producer Lester Siegel, Tony’s plan not only has to fool the Iranians to work, it has to fool the entire world, who need to believe that this film is actually in pre-production. Beyond the need to get past the militants, especially at Tehran Airport where they are vigilant about capturing any Americans trying to escape, the plan has many obstacles to success, including: the six, who need to get up to speed basically overnight on their cover stories, some who predetermine certain failure, which if does happen means torturous death; competing priorities in Washington between the six and the fifty plus hostages; the Taylors’ Iranian housekeeper, Sahar, who comes to the realization that the Taylors’ supposed Canadian house guests are not who they say they are; and a mug shot book of embassy staff among the shredded materials, which Iranian sweat shop workers are tasked with putting back together, and which if achieved would identify the fact that the militants are minus six people from among their hostages.

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Argo Movie Reviews

Mature and well made

A mature and well-made drama/thriller and a true story set during the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Ben Affleck gives an understated turn as a CIA man who comes up with a novel way of rescuing six American embassy staff from an isolated and desperate country. In many ways the meticulousness of the plan reminded me favourably of THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS, and the attention to detail is quite excellent. Kudos to Bryan Cranston for bringing some of his trademark energy to the production.

Oddly, I couldn’t find anything to dislike about this film!

I will readily admit that I am a very critical person when it comes to movies. After all, a normal person doesn’t contribute over 13800 (and counting) reviews to IMDb! However, “Argo” is an unusual film because I honestly can’t think of a single negative thing to say about it! Really…it’s THAT good! The film is about a joint effort by the Canadian government and the CIA to rescue a group of six Americans stranded in Iran during their revolution in 1979-80. It seems that most of the Americans in the US embassy were captured by extremists but a small group of folks escaped and sought shelter in the Canadian embassy. What happened next? See the film.

It’s odd. In light of the film’s greatest strength, how could the Oscar folks NOT have nominated Ben Affleck for Best Director? After all, in so many ways the film was wonderfully directed. Although I knew the fate of the six refugees, I STILL found myself reacting to the incredibly tense ending. I was actually chewing my fingernails and could feel my heart pounding. Additionally, the film was wonderful how it kept weaving the characters into a VERY complicated and wonderful story. The other unsung heroes of the film were the producers (and there were many) and makeup folks. They managed to really capture the look of the era and look of the actual characters in real life. And, finally, the script was just terrific. Overall a magnificent film–one that clearly is in the running for Best Picture this year. And, incidentally, the audience at the showing tonight broke into applause when the film ended! I can’t say that it should win, as some of the films nominated are so different and I haven’t yet seen them all. Heck, I’d love to see a couple take home the statuette as it’s been a very good year for films.

By the way, if you are the sort to leave when the final credits roll, DON’T. Watch and see.

Hollywood Hyperbole

Ben Affleck who originally got acclaim for his collaboration with best bud Matt Damon on Good Will Hunting, went out gloriously alone and came back with a Best Picture Oscar for Argo, the story of one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated in the last century or even in the short time this century has been around. I’m sure Matt Damon would love to have had a piece of this one.

Based on writings of CIA operative Tony Mendez who engineered the escape of six American diplomats who were lucky enough to get out of Iran during the Ayatollah Khomeini craziness during the Iran hostage crisis, Affleck who sports a heavy beard that makes him totally unrecognizable as Affleck, but no doubt Mendez had such a growth. Only the voice lets you know from time to time that it is Affleck.

Our protagonist has a history of pulling off good intelligence coups and he’s given an assignment by his superiors. When they learn that the American diplomats are hiding at the Canadian ambassador’s home he has to devise a scheme to get them out. He’s one of several people put on this problem. His solution is to appeal to the Iranian’s sense of celebrity. Affleck creates the cover story of a movie being shot in Iran, a science fiction spectacular like Star Wars and these folks were there scouting locations in the desert. Hollywood contacts John Goodman and Alan Arkin were most helpful, their sense of Hollywood hyperbole comes in handy. In fact both make several jokes about the movie capital. Arkin got a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

Of course we know what happened. I remember the news breaking that the Canadians had gotten these diplomats out who should have been hostages along with the others. The Iranians huffed and puffed and vowed divine retribution on Canada for aiding the Great Satan. It all came to naught however.

Argo which is the title of the pretend science fiction epic so far represents the summit of Ben Affleck’s career. Why he did not get nominated for Best Actor and Director is quite beyond me if the Academy thought the film that good. Now that the story is declassified we now see that the CIA can occasionally get it right.