Film Review 3

Directed by      Ben Affleck

Produced by    Ben Affleck

                       George Clooney

                       Grant Heslov

Screenplay by  Chris Terrio

Based on         The Master of Disguise

                        by Antonio J. Mendez

                             The Great Escape

                        by Joshuah Bearman

Starring            Ben Affleck

                        Bryan Cranston

                        Alan Arkin

                        John Goodman

Budget             $44.5 million

Argo is a 2012 historical drama thriller film directed by Ben Affleck. This dramatization is adapted from the book The Master of Disguise by CIA operative Tony Mendez, and Joshuah Berman's 2007 Wired article "The Great Escape" about the "Canadian Caper", in which Mendez led the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran, during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

When militants seize control of the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the height of the Iranian Revolution, CIA agent Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) creates a fake Hollywood film production in order to rescue a group of American diplomats who have sought refuge at the home of the Canadian ambassador.

As the six members of the embassy staff remain behind closed doors, armed militants conduct thorough searches of local homes, and kill anyone suspected of harboring the Americans. Realizing that it's only a matter of time before the six are identified and taken hostage, Mendez offers a unique - yet potentially dangerous - solution: posing as a Canadian film producer, he will enter into Tehran under the precipice of scouting locations for an upcoming science fiction opus, gather up the refugees, pass them off as his crew at the airport, and fly out of Iran right under the militants' noses.

Shortly after touching down in Iran, however, Mendez contends with a few unexpected developments that threaten to erode the bond of trust he needs to establish with the refugees, and expose his deception. Meanwhile, even if they do manage to make it as far as the airport, government bureaucracy threatens to leave them hopelessly stranded in their most desperate hour.

Alan Arkin, John Goodman, and Bryan Cranston co-star.Inspired by actual events.

Most of this is a triumph of direction, because none of the elements are really first-rate: performances are capable rather than inspired, and the script has holes (including a big implausibility right at the climax, involving a problem which might’ve been better solved with a simple phone call to the control tower). Pundits are saying Argo might win the Best Picture Oscar – it’s neck-and-neck with Lincoln – but nothing else, given that Affleck himself isn’t even nominated. Maybe so; though it should at least win Best Editing because the film flows like water, its two hours gliding by almost imperceptibly.

As for me, the film is cartoonish.Yet there’s enough human detail to make us care. Affleck won the Directors’ Guild of America award last week, and struck a self-deprecating note in his acceptance speech: “I don’t think this makes me a real director, but I think I’m on my way,” he told his peers – but that’s far too modest. He is indeed a real director – and Argo, a Hollywood film about Hollywood films, may be the best Hollywood film of the year.