After America granted asylum to the corrupt and tyrant former Shah in 1979, riots broke out in Tehran and the people stormed the American embassy and took the employees hostage. They threatened to try and execute them for espionage unless the Shah was released to Iran to be tried for his crimes. However, six employees foresaw the dangers and fled the embassy before they could be captured, and took refuge at the home of the Canadian ambassador, where they hid for months from the outside world.
C.I.A. agent Tony Mendez (Affleck) is assigned to help the State Department plan an operation to extract the six American embassy-employees that escaped the riots.He comes up with a plan to go to Iran posing as a film producer scouting a location for a “Star Wars”-rip off movie called “Argo” and pass the six people off as Canadian crew members, cleverly referring to them as Studio 6. He enlists the help of legendary Hollywood makeup artist John Chambers (John Goodman) and producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) to hype the release of “Argo” to make it more plausible to the Iranian government. Meanwhile, the Iranians find out that six Americans are unaccounted for, and Mendez has to race against them to rescue Studio 6 before they’re discovered and arrested.
Ben Affleck (“Good Will Hunting”, “The Town”) is a brilliant writer and director. He’s witty, original, and sentimental. So it’s disappointing that he is one of the most wooden actors in Hollywood. I can’t call him a bad actor, but he plays every one of his roles the exact, same way. Not quite serious, not quite sad, not quite capable of emotion except for the occasional chuckle-grin. He’s one of those people that is no longer the character he plays and pretty much just plays himself. I cannot name a single character he’s played in the last fifteen years (unless you count Dare Devil); He’s not Tony Mendez, he’s Ben Affleck. Arkin provided most of the comic relief as someone who said funny things in serious faces. He’s also the kind of actor that portrays the same type of character (in “Little Miss Sunshine”, “Get Smart”), but he can pull it off better than actors like Affleck.
Every other actor was handpicked to resemble their real life counterparts. The recreations of the real-life events was spot on. In every historical movie or period piece nowadays, they try to input as much original footage or photographs as they can to make it seem as real as possible. Everything else was recreated: the Ayatollah posters, the Tehran rioters scaling the fence of the embassy, the Iranian press releases, public lynchings, and the emergence of civilian soldiers.
“Argo” had very intense moments in the beginning and especially towards the end. In the back of my mind, I knew it was all going to be okay, that this had a happy ending, but I was still had a strong sense of anxiety throughout. It wasn’t so nerve-wracking as to call it a thriller, but it came close. Most of the middle section had dry and sometimes childish humor, but the overall tones was a serious one. The fact that Argo was inspired by Mendez watching “Planet of the Apes” is a nice addition to the story.
In light of the recent attack on the American embassy in Libya, I think this movie has a good representation of human action and reaction. A herd mentality is about the most dangerous thing to have during a crisis. Panic and paranoia only serve to worsen these circumstances, and yet that is mankind’s usual response to the situation. We should take a page from the hostages and escapees, whose cool-headedness and clear thinking was their main defense against dying as political martyrs.
Overall, “Argo” was a good watch. Because it’s a historical account that focused on the events more than the people involved, there wasn’t much room for character development, but the rest of the movie held up to standards. I can’t vouch for the rewatchability on “Argo” because it’s a very in-the-moment kind of movie, but watching it once is enough to leave an impression on a viewer. I have a feeling that it might be nominated for the upcoming Oscar season, but more out of obligation to the subject and people involved than outstanding quality. I don’t imagine it would win, nor do I think it was so amazingly good enough to deserve a major award, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it got recognition as Best Adapted Screenplay. Maybe a Golden Globe, something much less serious.
