Once just an actor (and an Oscar-winning screenwriter lest we forget), Ben Affleck turned his hand to directing a few years back and delivered a gut-punch of a drama in the form of Gone Baby Gone. Then, proving he wasn’t a one-trick pony, he went on to make the effective bank robbery drama The Town. Now he’s back with political thriller Argo, which has solidified him as a true filmmaking talent. He’s three for three.
Argo tells “the declassified true story” of a secret mission between the CIA and the Canadian government to help get a group of six American diplomats out of revolutionary Iran in the early 1980s. The “best bad idea” they have is to pose CIA operative Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) and the diplomats as a Canadian film crew on a location scout and extract them from the danger zone before they’re caught and most likely executed.
Straight away Affleck has thrown himself into a world but he manages to skilfully balance the political, comedic and thriller elements to make for a cohesive and satisfying whole, never allowing each of those extremes to fight for screen time or impede on the importance of the other. The comedy is particularly well-handled, with jabs about the movie making business and the like sprinkled throughout the narrative. It adds a punch to the proceedings rather than feeling like Affleck is treating the material lightly.
Although one might say it’s rather generic or indulgent to cast himself once again in the leading role, his against-type performance is entirely suited. It’s a very unshowy role, unflattering to his movie star persona with his grizzly beard, weight and the fact that his character is more likely to wake up fully-dressed surrounded by used Chinese takeaway boxes than save the day with a smile and a cheesy one-liner. Aside from Affleck the film sports one of the year’s best casts including Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston and Kyle Chandler, who spout screenwriter Chris Terrio’s savvy dialogue in zingy, entertaining fashion.
The real brilliance cast-wise, however, is with the group of six in desperate need of help. Clea DuVall, Scoot McNairy (who’s having an amazing year with Killing Them Softly and now this), Rory Cochrane, Tate Donovan, Christopher Denham and Kerry Bishé are all actors you may recognise as “that guy/gal from that thing” but they aren’t huge stars, not to mention the fact they are disguised under moustaches and bold hair akin to the era. In that way we can invest in them as people and even put ourselves in their dire situation. Even if the hair and make-up does lean on the caricature-ish at times the film is nonetheless grounded in a convincing reality thanks to an otherwise keenly observed sense of time and place, not to mention brilliant performances from everyone involved.
Argo can be enjoyed on a number of levels; as a dramatized political history lesson, a taut and complex thriller (a sequence towards the end is just about as tense as this sort of thing gets) or as a twist on the sub-genre of movies about movies. Luckily it mixes all of those together with great aplomb, managing to be topical with some interesting political things to say without feeling like it’s beating the audience over the head with any sort of preachy message. A fascinating slice of history told with as much panache as it does respect for what really happened. Affleck gets its Munich meets Wag the Dog vibe just right, continuing to prove himself as an extremely talented actor-turned-director.
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argo is a great movie, i really love the action and storyline.`
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