Movie review: Argo - taking centre stage

Set around the US embassy hostage crisis in Tehran on November 4^th 1979, Argo is a skillfully made and engrossing espionage film. Directed by and starring Ben Affleck (Tony Mendez), this is a suspenseful thriller which remarkably achieves great tension with hardly a shot fired thanks to its brilliantly paced narrative.

The movie wastes little time in getting started. It begins with a quick graphic novel style recap of the events that lead-up to the storming of the American consulate by Iranian students before focusing on the rescue story of the six US diplomats who evaded capture by hiding out at Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor’s (Victor Garber) home in Iran.

Entering the film at this point is the CIA specialist, Tony Mendes, who rolls his eyes during a US State Department meeting where officials hatch plans that don’t impress him. At this point, after watching a science fiction movie with his son, Mendes comes up with a scheme to smuggle the six escapees out of Iran, disguised as Canadian film-makers. Although the idea seems wild, with the world struck by Star Wars fever, it is the “best bad idea” the agency has.

Later, alongside supervisor Jack O’Donnell (Bryan Cranston), Mendes hooks up with talented make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman) and high spirited film producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) to make the phony ‘Argo’ film as real as possible. It is here that Argo unexpectedly turns into a smart comedy; providing a comical look at the superficial business of film making, clearly benefiting from Ben Affleck’s own love of the medium.

The film’s heart and soul is in its lead character Tony Mendes, who with his quiet intelligence and sincere attitude, is a refreshing change from the Jason Bournes of today’s spy films. Argo also hardly lets up on the tension, especially in its third act, where Mendes eventually lands in Iran posing as a filmmaker himself. In its final stage, the film cleverly employs set pieces which enhance the pressure cooker situation, though regrettably not all of the pay-off is subtle, with some of the film too deeply steeped in sentiment.

To achieve this, Argo also forgoes historical accuracy, and should be taken as a dramatisation of real events for pure entertainment value. Yes, this is a somewhat fake film, about an actual fake film, which was used for a very real hostage rescue.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, January 27^th, 2013.

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