Argo (Blu-ray/DVD Combo+UltraViolet Digital Copy)
Based on real events the dramatic thriller “Argo” chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis focusing on the little-known role that the CIA and Hollywood played-information that was not declassified until many years after the event. On November 4 1979 as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran taking 52 Americans hostage. But in the midst of the chaos six Ame
List Price: $ 35.99
Price: $ 24.96
Recommended article to Argo (Blu-ray/DVD Combo+UltraViolet Digital Copy)
Source: Warner Bros. January 30, 2012 Set for release on September 14th, the Ben Affleck-directed Argo has just released its second still, which you can check out below.Based ...
Ben Affleck has started the casting process for his Tehran hostage thriller Argo and the first name out of the hat is Oscar-winning actor Alan Arkin ( Little ...
To say some Iranian officials don’t like Argo is an understatement. Officials argue that the Oscar winning Ben Affleck directed film does not accurately portray Tehran during the ...
Who are the Schmoes, and what exactly do they know? The Schmoes are a couple of regular guys, Kristian Harloff and Mark Ellis, who--like you--are the people for ...
« ‘Supernatural’: Executive producer Bob Singer talks about ‘As Time Goes By’ and what’s coming next
Movie Monsters in Love: From ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to ‘Shrek’ »
Tense, intelligent, and even quite funny,
Ben Affleck continues to prove himself one of Hollywood’d best, most intelligent ‘mainstream’ film-makers.
In Argo he manages to combine nail-biting suspense created with a minimum of violence or standard movie
action, a sharp, dark sense of humor about the weirdness of both espionage and Hollywood, and makes a film
about getting American hostages released from Iran without giving in to jingoism.
Affleck even takes the time at the beginning of the film to put the Iranian revolution into a larger context of prior American
involvement and manipulation in Iran’s politics, thus making the Iranians’ hostage taking horribly wrong, but also somewhat
human and understandable.
The story itself is a doozey, and definitely fits into the `you’d never believe it if it weren’t true’ mold. Using a fake movie as a
cover-up for a long- shot rescue operation sounds like a bad episode of `Mission Impossible’ (or even `Get Smart’). But here
it is, a part of history.
I have only two small complaints about the film. First, other than Alan Arkin’s and John Goodman’s deliciously funny performances
as the Hollywood end of the deal, not many of the other characters are given as much texture as they might, especially considering
how strong the cast is. Perhaps the fear was slowing down the film with character details, but I would have gladly watched a few
minutes more to know these people better on a human level.
More problematically there are a number of key moments where the suspense is trumped up needlessly by throwing in some very
“Hollywood” conceits (coincidences, physical impossibilities, the real story of the climax being abandoned in favor of more overt
dramatics, etc) in a film that didn’t need them, a film where the whole point is how real world spy operations are miles from what
we usually see in films.
Neither of these flaws seriously damage a very, very good film, but I couldn’t help some minor disappointment when I felt the film go for
the `movie moment’ over truth. But this is still a highly entertaining and intelligent thriller, and that’s to be applauded.
Was this review helpful to you?
|4.5 stars… “This is the BEST bad idea that we have”,
“Argo” (2012 release; 120 min.) bring the story, based on true events but fictionalized for Hollywood purposes, of how CIA operative Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck) goes to Iran to help rescue 6 Americans who are holed up in the Canadian Ambassador’s residence ever since Iranian fanatics violently took over the US Embassy compound. In order to get the 6 Americans out of Iran, Mendez proposes that they pose as Canadian film makers, who are in Iran scouting for appropriate locations to film Argo, a Star Wars-like adventure. When the various options and alternatives (foreign teachers? agriculture specialists? no, film makers!) are presented to US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, he looks incredulous, but when reassured about the various options available that “they are all bad ideas. but this is the BEST bad idea we have”, Vance blesses the mission. In order to lend credibility to the idea that he is involved with this fake movie, Mendez and his Hollywood connections set up a fake film company, with a fake film production office, and a fake script, etc. Once in Iran, Mendez gets in contact with the Group of 6, and they are slowly but surely preparing to try and escape out of Tehran.
Several comments: first and foremost, this is a terrific, tense and rousing historical drama, the likes of which we don’t get to see often enough anymore these days. In fact, the whole movie experience feels like the movie was made in the late 70s (check out the classic Warner Bros. logo that opens the movie). It is equally clear that a number of events were fictionalized in order to advance the drama in the movie (just to name one: the chase to the plane at the end is a complete fabrication but makes for tense viewing). Other missed facts are harder to understand (for example: at the beginning of the movie, the narrator states that the Shah was “installed by US and British forces in 1953″ when in reality he had ruled since 1941 as successor to his dad).
This movie is a tour de force for Ben Affleck, who stars, produces and directs. The days of the “Bennifer” ridicule are long gone! “Argo” is his third movie as a director (after 2007′s “Gone Baby Gone” and 2010′s “The Town”), and it seems that Affleck is either incredibly lucky, or simply getting better and better with each movie. I’ll bet on the latter. There are several other choice performances in “Argo”, including Alan Arkin and John Goodman as the Hollywood connections providing the fake film production house, but also Bryan Cranston as Tony’s CIA superior. In all, this is truly Hollywood at its very best: a smart, tense, engaging drama/thriller, proving once again that you don’t need to have the world blown up in smithereens every 5 minutes to engage an appreciative audience. “Argo” is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Was this review helpful to you?
|