Review of Argo (2012) by Gastrointestinal H — 05 Sep 2014

Warning: contains nonsense, pretentiousness, and some mild language.

Argo is a very serious attempt at a very serious movie: a popular hit and critical success, this silver-screen adaptation of the 1980 "Canadian Caper" deservedly grossed hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and merited numerous Academy and other awards. The clever pacing, relatively dark cinematography, and Hollywood rewriting of history make Ben Affleck's flick a sensational thriller.

At the start, the audience is immediately taken back in time thirty years or so thanks to the nostalgic visual style. True-to-life reproductions of the past are seamlessly integrated with CGI to create locales and camera shots seemingly recalled straight from a previous era, adhering to a faithful recreation of a fictional reality. The props and other minutiae are accounted for, all the way down to the fine grain on-screen: props to the technical crew. No doubt Argo was meant to appeal to a target age demographic, with its film-like motif, camera shake, wobbly credits, dust and scratches, and overall simulation of an authentic period film.

Exploring less the superficial aspects and more of the movie's substance, the plot centers around the removal of six escaped embassy diplomats from a chaotic situation in Iran; its main man Tony Mendez is played by none other than star actor, director, and producer Affleck. He is an "exfil," a term used in armed jargon as an abbreviation for "exfiltration." Basically he disguises a group of hidden American expatriates as a Canadian film crew, gets them the hell out of hell and evades an evidently inevitable grave by radical judge, jury, and executioner.

Joining him is the no-longer-bald Bryan Cranston, who reprises his role as a hair-raising badass, though this time in the guise of a CIA operative. His Emmy-winning performance as Walter White channels its inner rage into his new persona as showcased in a brief clip of explosive frustration: Heisenberg line-drives a mug in one fell swing of his plastic phone handset 9-iron, making office miniature golf just that much more entertaining!

For contrast and completeness, the international-scale tension is skillfully offset by the comic relief provided by two jovial jokesters, John Goodman and Alan Arkin. Their respective roles as the esteemed John Chambers and fictitious-but still funny-Lester Siegel are mainly occupied by bulls****ing the blockbuster business as the movie's Moe and Larry (the third stooge is merely a cameo by Jack Nicholson). Laughs are to the adage of "Argo f*** yourself.".

Lastly, a small mention goes to the fairly convincing look-alikes playing the damsels in distress. All considered, the charismatic cast of characters allows for the audience to really catch on, and is what makes this film truly engaging, hook, line, and sinker.

This enveloping ingenuity, however, can entirely engross a captivated crowd to such an acute degree that the dynamic backdrop of Iranian crisis is flattened to a metaphorical green screen, with the detached action occurring only before it, and not necessarily interacting with it. Ironically, in the film one Iranian cultural official chastises the American impostors, posing as location scouts, for trying to cheapen their exotic Iranian set to a land suggestive of "snake charmers" and "flying carpets." As such, many reviewers praised the film, but also took the time to lend a factual tenor to their own opinions by criticizing Affleck's sensationalized interpretation of true events and prevailing American ethnocentrism. Apparently, the alleged stateside propaganda piece depicts a less-than-crucial Canadian role, rolling out a retold reenactment reducing Canadian Ambassador Taylor to plain wallpaper. The masses really did the fill the streets; the eruptions in Farsi were no farce; but to the ire of certain stalwarts a prime opportunity to relay the people's oppression through Western media was swept under the Persian rug.

(On a more subtle scale, the reference to Battle for the Planet of the Apes against the politically-charged imagery of Iranian protests seems only a coincidental correlation, yet many parallels can be drawn between the picture and the picture within, along the lines of implied barbarism and animosity.).

To its credit nonetheless, the film ventures to remain historically relevant with its highly symbolic juxtaposition of the script reading scene in Los Angeles amid flashes of footage detailing the concurrent events overseas. The exclusion of detail is, according to Affleck, for the sake of not compromising Argo's cinematic focus. Call it a celebration of artistic liberty. The final verdict is ultimately up to the viewer.

Personally I thoroughly enjoyed Argo f*** yourself. (If I were to remember one thing from the 130 minutes of nail-biting, that line would be it.).