Argo (2012)

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courtesy of wsj.net

Actors become directors all the time. Robert Redford, George Clooney, and dozens of others have stepped behind the camera, most of the time still starring in their own films. But typically, that director was a good actor first. Then comes the strange case of Ben Affleck, who has a few decent performances under his belt, but they are usually caricatures that just happen to jump out of the screen (see Dazed and Confused) in movies that are still good and not built around him. Affleck has never been an Oscar-caliber performer, to put it lightly. But he has now made three films, all of which have been critically acclaimed, partly due to his powerful eye as a filmmaker.


Affleck's latest Argo is based on the true story of a CIA collaboration with the Canadian government to pull six fugitive American diplomats out of Iran, in the midst of a terrible hostage crisis. Affleck stars as Tony Mendez, an exfiltration expert brought in to figure out a way to get people into Iran to get these six people out, who are hiding at the Canadian Ambassador's home in the Middle East. Working with his direct CIA contact Jack O'Donnell (Bryan Cranston), Mendez decides on a plan that's just crazy enough to work: he will pose as a movie producer, fly into Iran to scout locations, and have the six pretend to be his film crew. To accomplish this, Mendez calls upon Hollywood makeup artist John Chambers (John Goodman), who then pulls in producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin). In order to make this work, they need everything - a script, a studio, and a cast, if only to convince the media that this is real, thereby feeding the guise in the eyes of the Iranian police. So, this Canadian studio finds a Star Wars knock off script called "Argo" and slowly builds fake identities for the captives, including a screenwriter, a cameraman, a director, and so on. What results is one of the strangest escape missions that truly happened, however fictionalized it may be.

As I said, this is Affleck's third film and, while it may be his most entertaining film, it certainly isn't his best. Argo has garnered some Oscar buzz since its premier in Toronto, which pushed my interest up a few notches. Unfortunately, it also raised my expectations, hoping for a true Best Picture contender. It probably still will be (it's one of the best studio pictures this year), but instead of being the rare Hollywood Best Picture nominee with a darker edge (i.e. The Departed), it really falls closer to the"crowd-pleaser" side of the coin, comparable to, say, David O' Russell's The Fighter. That's not to say it (or The Fighter) is a bad film - it just could have been better.

The biggest of the minor problems bringing the film down a bit is Affleck the actor, who is easily one of the blandest CIA agents I've ever seen. There's an attempt to throw some subplot in with Mendez being separated from his wife and son, but it becomes a forgettable chess piece in the bigger picture of the film, which had much more interesting pieces that deserved (and received) more attention. If Affleck was trying to nail down the "estranged child from a career driven man" aspect (see Moneyball), he didn't do it. It's meant to humanize Mendez, a man who doesn't even reveal his true identity to the captors. But, it added almost nothing to the film.

courtesy of screenrant.com

Second, our six fugitives aren't given enough screen time. Scratch that: their screen time isn't used wisely. These characters aren't three dimensional at all. We get some cues from some - there's a perceived leader, an obvious critic (who also speaks Iranian), and the fact that there are two married couples among the six. But they don't leave the Canadian Ambassador's house for months. Then, a CIA agent shows up and tells them they have to pretend to be a Canadian film crew before they leave in two days. Why don't we get to see much of their work as they prepare for this daring escape? We spend more time following Affleck as he stares at his son's photo and drinks. And for that matter, Canada kind of gets shortchanged in this movie. I have a feeling they had a lot more to do with the rescue than Affleck leads us to believe. Not sure what that's aboot.

Taking all this into consideration, this certainly isn't a boring film. It runs on all cylinders for a good portion and boasts some really great performances. The scenes with Arkin and Goodman are gold, while any appearance of Cranston is a shot in the arm this film needs. There are plenty of escape movie cliches that, if you can overlook (especially during the final scenes), it's a really great movie experience. It's all filmed and paced so well that you never have time to focus on what could go wrong.

While the end credits show interesting real-life vs. film comparisons (shot next to shot), it comes off more like Affleck saying "See?? I didn't just make it all up! I researched!" The beginning of the film is much stronger, detailing the US-Iranian relationship in a storyboard style, also injecting a little humanity to the Iranian people who, for the most part, aren't portrayed as more than villains in the film. Affleck figured out a way to give some historical background in an interesting way, without dragging it out. It's a piece of the film that some people will forget, but some observant audience members will remember - that's the way narrative like this should be.

It's funny - I didn't hate this film. It sounds like I did, but it really is exciting - a nice Hollywood escape film. It'll grab a few Oscar nominations, maybe even a Best Picture nod. Though I sound hypercritical, what this film does prove is that Affleck is a very skilled director in terms of cinematography, pacing, and editing. He even uses music well throughout the film. He just needs to stop acting in his own movies. His best movie as a director is still his first, Gone Baby Gone, and he wasn't in it.

At the very least, films like this shine a light on stories that we, as Americans, occasionally need to be reminded of. Argo's story shows a real life international collaboration between two nations. It shows the work it takes to solve a problem without violence. And, though it doesn't paint Iran in a positive light, it also reminds us that our government shares at least a little blame for their hostility against us.

SHOULD YOU SEE IT: Encouraged