Argo (2012) * * * *

Directed by: Ben Affleck

Starring:  Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin

Argo is "based on a declassified true story" according to the ads.    I don't how much of what happens in Argo actually happened, but what's here is taut, suspenseful, and thrilling.   Movies takes plenty of dramatic license with "true stories", but since the idea is to entertain first and foremost, I have no issue if the finished product is done well.    Argo is done extremely well.

The Iran hostage crisis is the backdrop for Argo.    In late 1979, Iranian protesters stormed the US Embassy and took its workers hostage for what turned out to be a 444-day ordeal.    The protesters were angry that the recently deposed Shah was being treated in New York for terminal cancer and the US refused to deliver him back to Iran to face charges of crimes against humanity.    It's funny.    Back in 1979-1980, the Shah was seen as a harmless ally to the US deposed by an "extremist" Islamic regime led by Ayatollah Khomeini.    In reality, the Shah was a despot who oppressed his people, but since he was good for American business interests in Iran, he was "the good guy" and treated as such. 

During the raid, six American embassy workers escaped and found refuge in the Canadian ambassador to Iran's home.   Knowing that the Americans would soon be discovered and likely killed, the CIA tasks agent Tony Mendez (Affleck) to rescue the six Americans.   Since there were tense diplomatic negotiations ongoing to release the hostages, it could never be made known that the CIA was involved at all in attempting to smuggle the Americans out of Iran, nor was Canada involved in order to protect the ambassador's status.  

Mendez is a brilliant strategist.  Knowing that he can't simply helicopter in and rescue the Americans, nor could he lead them over hundreds of miles in the Iranian mountains, Mendez comes up with a scheme that was bold, tenuous, and had numerous opportunities to go wrong.    He plans on conjuring up a story that the six Americans are actually a Canadian film crew working on a science-fiction movie called Argo and the crew is scouting locations to shoot the film.    As Mendez puts it to his superiors, "This is the best bad idea we have."

In order to make the movie seem legitimate, Mendez hires an actual movie producer (Arkin) and a movie special-effects wiz (Goodman) to set up a phony production company and promote the film publicly.   They even use an unproduced script and print up business cards.     By the time Mendez goes to Iran to put the plan into motion, there are stories in the Hollywood trade papers about the film, which goes a long way in convincing the naturally suspicious Iranians.

Argo is tightly wound and edited.    It contains very little fat and concentrates only on things which push the story forward.    It has a sense of time and place which add to its effect.    It's much more suspenseful to see CIA agents having to rely on wits and ingenuity rather than just have to strike some computer keys to solve an issue.    Also, there is plenty of humor in the Hollywood scenes for effective comic relief before the main event, which is Mendez' efforts to rescue the Americans while undetected by the Iranians.    Mendez believes the going out via the Tehran airport is the best way to go.   It's almost like hiding in plain sight, but he sees this as the least risky option in an assignment riddled with risks.

Affleck has already directed two other movies, Gone Baby Gone and The Town.   Both were very good efforts.   Affleck showed he could move scenes along and worked at a brisk pace.   Argo not only masters pace, but also an intense focus which heightens the suspense.   The performances aren't flashy, but all the more powerful.   The final scenes at the Tehran airport are filled with nearly unbearable tension because Affleck was able to show that the human stakes were so high.    Normally, CIA films are by the numbers action thrillers.   Here we care about everyone involved personally.   It doesn't matter how much of Argo was true or not true, Argo is a memorable film.