WARNING: This review is a spoiler alert for people who have not seen the movie in question, so if you haven't seen the movie, proceed with caution.
One sunday evening I was watching the Academy Awards with my family, rooting for the movies I had picked on my ballot online. I predicted 10 Oscars correctly, but one of the awards I didn't get was Best Picture. Originally, I voted for Stephen Spielberg's Lincoln, but later I rooted for Life Of Pi when Ang Lee won the Best Directing award. Despite the tradition where the movie which takes Best Director usually wins Best Picture, Argo, which I appreciate even more now, won the Oscar for Best Picture.
Argo, in case you didn't know, takes place during the Iran Hostage Crisis. Most of the people in the U.S. embassy are taken hostage. Six people, however, went out a back exit and are hiding in the Canadian Ambassador's house. A C.I.A. operative [Ben Affleck] is hired to get those six people out, but nobody has a really plausible plan of action. There is one good idea, however. They plan to use a movie, Argo, as a cover up for getting the hostages out. This leads to a makeup artist [John Goodman] and producer [Alan Arkin, in an Oscar nominated role] to set up the movie, eventually leading to the location scout in Iran, where they will get the people home. But with the clock ticking and Iranian security everywhere, will they get out in time?
The very beginning of Argo, set in a comic book style opening, truly sets the stage for the rest of the film before the first camera even starts rolling. This approach is slightly conventional, but the excellent writing and morbid narrator really set the stage for the rest of the movie.
The next scene, at the U.S. Embassy, gets the movie going for first-time viewers. Using a documentary-esque camera and pictures from the actual event, which viewers can see in the credits, Affleck creates a historically accurate picture of what happened that day, yet still maintains the feel of the prologue. You can feel both the anger of the protesters and the horror and urgency of the people inside the embassy.
Throughout the movie there are a lot of touches which bring a desperate feeling to the story, such as when they show footage of the Houseguests, as they nicknamed the escapees in the film, or when they show some of the actions Iranians take inside the embassy. This adds to the storyline of the movie, even in its weakest points.
These weak points in the storyline disrupt the flow. This happens when they head to California to set up the fake film. Using a different atmosphere and a lot of copyrighted music, they change the feel from a desperate thriller/drama to an amusing dramedy. While it does get some laughs, and the phrase "Argo f--- yourself," is hilarious, it creates a rift, leaving two different kinds of films in one bunch.
However, the film gets back to its darker, suspenseful pace, which leads to a finely crafted work blending thriller, drama and Hollywood satire into a film that truly delivers in the end. This is nonetheless a great film, and deserves the attention it gets.
And one more thing: When Ben Affleck's character returns to his Maryland home and is with his son once again, you see footage of the child's Sci-fi action figures, leading to a piece of Argo's concept art. This intentional frame shows the Argo project's protagonist riding away on a speeder bike from the city--with his son, which was taken from him in the movie. The child is hard to spot, but when you see him, the message is clear: The hero has made his escape, and is reunited with his son.
Final Score: 8.5/10
