Argo

'Argo' - A Review: Spy Games

Already dubbed "a surefire best picture Oscar nominee" by The Hollywood Reporter, "Argo" is an entertaining and intelligent suspense film for grown-ups (and smart teens) inspired by the unlikely true story of the secret rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran in 1980, while 52 of their less fortunate colleagues were held hostage by Iranian militants in the American embassy.




The movie begins by reviving the Warner Bros. logo of the 1970s. This not only establishes the era, for those old enough to remember the stylishly minimalist design that Warner used from 1972 to 1984, but it suggests that "Argo" will be something of a throwback to the politically conscious, sometimes fact-based suspense and espionage films of the 1970s: "The Day of the Jackal," "Three Days of the Condor," even "All the President's Men."



This insistence that plot is as important as physical action is what makes "Argo" a movie for grown-ups, not its sex (there is none) or violence (present more often as a threat then a reality) or sophistication (more visual and technical than political). The commitment to quality and what might be called self-consciously purposeful content is typical of the producing team of George Clooney and Grant Heslov, who previously delivered "The Ides of March," "The Men Who Stare at Goats" and "Good Night, and Good Luck."



It figures The Hollywood Reporter -- and movie people and critics in general -- would enjoy"Argo." Planned by CIA document forger, master of disguise and "exfiltration" specialist Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck, who also directed), the real-life "Mission: Impossible"-style rescue operation dramatized here -- not declassified until 1997 -- required participants to pose as filmmakers. The title of the recently released nonfiction book by Mendez that covers the same story sums it up: "Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History." The story flatters Hollywood, while also poking gentle fun at movie folk.



The Hollywood episodes in Chris Terrio's script are witty and filled with winking jokes about the industry, as Mendez recruits a cynical, wisecracking producer (Alan Arkin, playing a fictionalized character) and a "Planet of the Apes" makeup artist (John Goodman, as real-life Oscar-winner John Chambers) as his design and support team, more or less. Renting an office on a studio backlot and taking out an ad in Variety, the movie professionals help Mendez establish a convincing cover identity: He will impersonate a Canadian producer traveling to Iran to scout locations for a proposed "Flash Gordon"-meets-"The Arabian Nights" "Star Wars" ripoff titled "Argo." (Genre fans will enjoy spotting Cylon costumes, "Sssssss" posters and other vintage sci-fimementos on the backlot.)



The opening scenes of "Argo" are perhaps the most gripping in the film, as Affleck and his crew (using Turkey as Iran) recreate the scary and chaotic 1979 takeover of the embassy by followers of the recently returned Ayatollah Khomeini; a prologue, constructed from newsreel footage and vintage photographs, accurately pegs the violence as payback for U.S. support of the tyrannical Shah of Iran, who had fled to America the month before.



While most of the embassy employees were captured, six diplomats (played here by Clea DuVall, Tate Donovan and others) were able to slip away, to be harbored in secret as "houseguests" of the Canadian ambassador (Victor Garber). The CIA rescue mission is presented as a race against time, as Mendez tries to figure out how to extract the Americans before the Iranians discover them.



At one point, someone questions whether one of the "houseguests" will be able to convincingly impersonate a Hollywood director. Retorts Chambers: "You can train a rhesus monkey to be a director." During the low days of "Daredevil" and "Gigli" and "Jersey Girl," such a jibe might have been directed at handsome Ben Affleck for his behind-the-camera aspirations. Although he shared a best original screenplay Oscar with pal and co-star Matt Damon for "Good Will Hunting" (1997), Affleck had become something of a pretty-boy tabloid joke ("Beniffer" was the cognomen applied to his romantic affiliation with Jennifer Lopez) before he reinvented himself as a promising and skilled director with a pair of very fine crime films, "Gone Daddy Gone" (2007) and "The Town" (2010).



The more ambitious "Argo" affirms Affleck's talents and, perhaps, his limitations. The period detail and overall technical credits amaze, but Affleck -- who sports a Chuck Norris, "Missing in Action" beard and haircut as Mendez -- relies too often on handheld camera to convey intensity, and on crosscutting to generate suspense or "irony" (as in a sequence in which shots of actors in outlandish costumes reading through the science-fiction script are spliced among vintage news reports and moments of abusive hostage interrogation). Unlike its '70s forebears,"Argo" is overstrenuous. The prolonged action-suspense climax is fiction, and the movie insists that the audience care about Mendez's troubled domestic life. When the CIA agent reunites with his wife and son, Affleck places a windblown American flag in the background of the shot. We are meant to understand that family is what motivates Mendez to keep America safe, but does the story of "the Most Audacious Rescue in History" require the same appeal to sentiment as, for example, "Hotel Transylvania"?



Incidentally, the end credits for "Argo" list Michael Parks as Jack Kirby. In fact, Kirby -- co-creator genius and co-creator of such characters as Captain America and the Fantastiic Four -- did draw storyboards for the fake "Argo" project, but if Parks' role wasn't cut from the film, I must have blinked and missed him.



Rated R for profanity and some violent and disturbing images, 'Argo' opens today (Oct. 12) in the Memphis area at the CinePlanet 16, Collierville Towne 16, Cordova Cinema, DeSoto Cinema 16, Forest Hill 8, Hollywood 20 Cinema, Majestic, Palace Cinema, Paradiso, Stage Cinema and Studio on the Square.