ince his string of hits like Hollywoodland, Smokin’ Aces and The
Town it seems Ben Affleck is incapable of putting a foot wrong. The
latest from the actor, producer and
director sees the CIA devise a plan to
rescue six hostages from the American Embassy during the hostage
crisis when the Iranian Revolution
peaked in 1979. This seems like unusual subject matter but the intrigue
will get even the most dubious
cinema-goer on board. It is the fascinating nature of this declassified
operation combined with real footage inserted smoothly throughout
which gives a real feel for the era and
the reality of the situation facing our
helpless hostages.
The moustachioed Affleck adds
to the dodgy tie, over-sized glasses
and slightly ‘socks and sandals’ look
invoked in the operations room providing a sense of comedy to proceedings in the face of severe technological limitations. It is in this smoky
ops. room that we get the set-up: six
hostages stuck in a country experiencing great unrest with the majority of the population searching for
the embassy workers to settle their
score, how do we get them out?
Once the conundrum is set and
we’ve glimpsed the rioting throngs
of flag-burning Iranians, up crops
‘the best bad idea we have.’ In comes
Tony Mendez, one of the agency’s
best, with a rather eccentric pitch.
The plan: we fake it as a film crew for
a sci-fi movie called ‘Argo’, pretend
we’re seeking film locations in Iran,
absorb the hostages into the crew
and out we head straight to the airport. However, the audience would
be greatly mistaken for believing
much hilarity and a slow descent
into comedy would follow. Although
there are laughs throughout, the
sense of seriousness is slowly built
to the point where the audience is
struggling to resist shouting encouragement at the screen. The fact
is, this film is incredibly absorbing;
the writers don’t engage in predictable love stories or hysterical captives,
they do something different. They let
you draw your own conclusions and
let Affleck display his acting prowess
and the dimensions of his character.
But above all they let the audience
empathise with the characters on a
basic human level without needing
to know their various relationship
histories or all the usual features of
over-writing which make the initial
scenes of so many movies a drag.
Take note film-makers: different is
good. Different leads to you finding
yourself almost falling off the edge
of your seat with tension. This is the
sign of a truly great movie.
It is important to mention this
film is not all about Affleck. Old hand
John Goodman (The Big Lebowski,
Monsters Inc, The Artist) puts in a
great double-act performance with
academy award winning Alan Arkin
(Little Miss Sunshine, Edward Scissorhands, Get Smart) to provide light
relief amongst all the nail-biting.
One of this film’s strengths is that
when such quality acting as a given,
more time is spent on the story, the
visuals and the writing. One thing is
for sure, it definitely shows.
Georgina P
Since his string of hits like Hollywoodland, Smokin’ Aces and The Town it seems Ben Affleck is incapable of putting a foot wrong. The latest from the actor, producer and director sees the CIA devise a plan to rescue six hostages from the American Embassy during the hostage crisis when the Iranian Revolution peaked in 1979. This seems like unusual subject matter but the intrigue will get even the most dubious cinema-goer on board. It is the fascinating nature of this declassified operation combined with real footage inserted smoothly throughout which gives a real feel for the era and the reality of the situation facing our helpless hostages.
The moustachioed Affleck adds to the dodgy tie, over-sized glasses and slightly ‘socks and sandals’ look invoked in the operations room providing a sense of comedy to proceedings in the face of severe technological limitations. It is in this smoky ops. room that we get the set-up: six hostages stuck in a country experiencing great unrest with the majority of the population searching for the embassy workers to settle their score, how do we get them out?
Once the conundrum is set and we’ve glimpsed the rioting throngs of flag-burning Iranians, up crops ‘the best bad idea we have.’ In comes Tony Mendez, one of the agency’s best, with a rather eccentric pitch. The plan: we fake it as a film crew for a sci-fi movie called ‘Argo’, pretend we’re seeking film locations in Iran, absorb the hostages into the crew and out we head straight to the airport. However, the audience would be greatly mistaken for believing much hilarity and a slow descent into comedy would follow. Although there are laughs throughout, the sense of seriousness is slowly built to the point where the audience is struggling to resist shouting encouragement at the screen. The fact is, this film is incredibly absorbing; the writers don’t engage in predictable love stories or hysterical captives, they do something different. They let you draw your own conclusions and let Affleck display his acting prowess and the dimensions of his character. But above all they let the audience empathise with the characters on a basic human level without needing to know their various relationship histories or all the usual features of over-writing which make the initial scenes of so many movies a drag. Take note film-makers: different is good. Different leads to you finding yourself almost falling off the edge of your seat with tension. This is the sign of a truly great movie.
It is important to mention this film is not all about Affleck. Old hand John Goodman (The Big Lebowski, Monsters Inc, The Artist) puts in a great double-act performance with academy award winning Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine, Edward Scissorhands, Get Smart) to provide light relief amongst all the nail-biting. One of this film’s strengths is that when such quality acting as a given, more time is spent on the story, the visuals and the writing. One thing is for sure, it definitely shows.
5 STARS
