At the Theater - Argo - "The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States in which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran in support of the Iranian Revolution... On the day the hostages were seized, six American diplomats evaded capture and remained in hiding at the Swedish and Canadian embassies. In 1979, the Canadian Parliament held a secret session for the first time since World War II in order to pass special legislation allowing Canadian passports to be issued to some American citizens so that they could escape. In cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency who used the cover story of a film project, the six American diplomats boarded a flight to Zürich, Switzerland, on January 28, 1980. Their escape and rescue from Iran by Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor has come to be known as the "Canadian Caper". The subject of the six escapees and what went into the planning and execution was also covered in the 2012 film Argo, directed by Ben Affleck." - Taken from Wikipedia.org
Argo depicts the true-life account of the six American diplomats who evaded capture and eventually escaped the country as the result of a joint effort with the CIA and Canadian Parliament during the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979. The mission played out under the guise of a film production crew scouting locations for a fake film. That established, there's one scene depicting a stateside script-reading involving costumed actors- don't go in expecting an elaborate fake film production playing out or a large film crew traveling around Iran. Some may feel misled by the trailers...
Although Director/Star Ben Affleck does an efficient job of covering the events (with a few notable inaccuracies) and providing an air of authenticity with an impressive time capsule feel (have fun pointing out the props/product placement/movie memorabilia of the late 70's), I came away from this Drama/Thriller feeling underwhelmed. The film is rather topical in nature- it's missing that one shocking moment that would have established the deadly-seriousness of the matter in a story where tension-building and suspense should have been top priority. Furthermore, none of the characters are fleshed out to the degree where I would even begin to mention any performance therein as highly-memorable or "award-worthy" in a film that has that "built-for-awards" type of feel. Maybe I missed the point, maybe I wanted a story about the 52 individuals who were held captive for 444 days as opposed to the 6 who were in hiding (in relative lavish surroundings) for somewhere around 80 days***...
Ben Affleck stars as covert CIA specialist Tony Mendez- the actor's performance is solid yet subdued. Most of his screen-time is spent looking somewhat concerned, with relatively little dialogue and very little physical demand to speak of. Don't expect to see his character running around toting a gun as the character never even touches one (that's not a complaint, just establishing the nature of the character- Tony Mendez's life was quite interesting, and I would suggest that those interested should spend 5 minutes and look him up on Wikipedia). With that, I believe Affleck (as a Director) fails to capture a full character arc involving the lead role - there's nothing really dynamic with the Tony Mendez portrayed/presented here that anyone should find particularly memorable. I felt it was the one role that should have outright powered the film yet ended up as an underwritten missed opportunity.
Alan Arkin is pretty much the comic relief here as a gruff (would you have Alan Arkin any other way?) producer who is approached to act as a stateside cover for the CIA's mission- he's likable in what appears to be a fictional role, at least as far as his character's name is concerned. John Goodman portrays John Chambers, the makeup effects artist who's best known for his work on the Planet Of The Apes franchise of the 70's. Goodman's serviceable in screen-time that probably clocks in at less than 4 minutes.
Bryan Cranston (AMC's Breaking Bad) occasionally pops up as a CIA Supervisor, while Kyle Chandler (Super 8) makes a couple of brief appearances as Hamilton Jordan, President Jimmy Carter's Chief of Staff.
Clea DuVall (Identity), Tate Donovan (Memphis Belle), Kerry Bishé (Scrubs) and Rory Cochrane (Dazed and Confused) are the faces you may recognize as 4 of the six in hiding, while Victor Garber (Alias) is Ken Taylor, the Canadian Ambassador to Iran who helped hide them.
Taylor Schilling appears for a mere several seconds as Tony Mendez's wife while Michael Parks (Kill Bill) has a cameo as comic book artist Jack Kirby. Richard Kind (Spin City) makes an appearance as a producer while Adreinne Barbeau passes by to essentially wink at the camera.
It's an interesting story (for those who are uninitiated) but a rather forgettable film that has that safe, "made as an A&E original" feel...
***The film only briefly touches upon the ineptitude of President Jimmy Carter during the 444 days the 52 hostages were held while failing to mention Iran's peculiar decision to release them on the very day that President Ronald Reagan was sworn into office...
Rated R for language
7.0 out of 10
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