This film image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Bryan Cranston, left, as Jack OÃDonnell and Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in "Argo," a rescue thriller about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Warner Bros., Claire Folger)
Antonio Mendez poses in 'true face' at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 25, 2011. Antonio is a former chief of disguise for the CIA and a recipient of the Intelligence Star of Valor.
(T.J. Kirkpatrick/ The Washington Times)
Ben Affleck, director, producer and a cast member of "Argo," poses at the premiere of the film at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Book cover for "Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled off the Most Audacious Rescue in History" by Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio.
Author Tony Mendez arrives at the premiere of the film "Argo" at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
This film image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez, center, in "Argo," a rescue thriller about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. (AP Photo/Warner Bros., Claire Folger)
United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Donald McHenry, right, shakes hands with Bob Anders, one of the Americans secreted out of Iran by former Canadian Ambassador to Iran Ken Taylor, center, in New York, May 30, 1980. The three attended a dinner before New York Yankees Canadian Night at Yankee Stadium. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The Canadian ambassador to Iran, Ken Taylor, briefs reporters on the situation in the mist of the Iran's Revolution in Teheran, a week before leaving the country with six Americans on Jan. 27, 1980. The Globe and Mail reports Saturday Taylor told the newspaper that he was made "de facto CIA station chief" in a secret deal between president Jimmy Carter and prime minister Joe Clark during the troubles in Teheran. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter Bregg
The crowd gathered at the State Department reaches out to embrace Robert G. Anders, in white raincoat at center, one of the six diplomats that the Canadians helped spirit out Teheran last weekend, shown Feb. 1, 1980 in Washington. At right is Henry L. Schatz, one of the six who spent three months in hiding in the Canadian Embassy in Iran. (AP Photo)
The burned out wreckage of a U.S. aircraft lies in the desert some 300 miles south of Tehran after the abortive commando-style raid into Iran, April 1980, aimed at freeing the American hostages being held in Tehran. The rescue mission fell apart when several helicopters failed and a helicopter and C141 transport plane collided. At least 8 U.S. servicemen died in the mission. (AP Photo)
FILE - In this Nov. 9, 1979 file photo, one of the hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran is displayed blindfolded and with his hands bound to the crowd outside the embassy. Fifty-two of the hostages endured 444 days of captivity. On the 30th anniversary of their release, at least 10 former hostages have said they will join each other for a reunion hosted by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Jan. 20, 2011. (AP Photo, File)
The scorched wreckage of an American C-130 Cargo aircraft lies in the Iranian desert of Dasht-E-Kavir, approximately 500 kilometers from Tehran, Iran on April 27, 1980. The mission to free 50 American hostages from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was aborted due to equipment failure. The plane collided with a U.S. helicopter and eight servicemen were killed. (AP Photo)
One of 60 U.S. hostages, blindfolded and with his hands bound, is being displayed to the crowd outside the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Iranian hostage takers. At least 2 former U.S. hostages say they believe the bearded man, far right, is Iranian president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while several former hostage takers all said they did not think it was Ahmadinejad. A close aide to Ahmadenijad refused to look at the photos or comment on the issue in Teheran Thursday, June 30, 2005. (AP Photo)
Iranian student spokesmen hold up photos of blindfolded American hostages, during a press conference in Tehran Monday November 5, 1979. The hostages are members of the staff of the United States Embassy in Tehran, which was stormed by students November 4. (AP Photo)
A man carries an assault weapon as others run, Feb. 14, 1979, in Teheran, during the siege on the U.S. Embassy. Ambassador William Sullivan and 101 other Americans were taken hostage in the attack. Photo was taken from video monitor showing CBS-TV. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
An armed man brandishes his weapon, Feb. 14, 1979, in Teheran, as a couple crouches low during a dash to cross the street near the U.S. Embassy. Photo was made from video monitor showing ABC-TV. (AP Photo)
A man carries an assault rifle during the storming of the U.S. Embassy in downtown Teheran, Iran, Feb. 14, 1979. Ambassador William Sullivan and 101 other Americans were taken hostage. Photo was made from a television monitor showing CBS-TV. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, center, is surrounded by followers, Feb. 1, 1979, after his arrival at Mehrabad Airport after 14 years of exile. (AP Photo)
The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran's exiled religious leader, speaks on Jan. 25, 1979, at a news conference following morning prayers. Through an interpreter he told newsmen that he was postponing his return to Tehran because of the Iranian Army's closure of the airports. (AP Photo)
Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez (center) works with trapped American diplomats on ... more >For a little while it looked as if Ben Affleck might try to be the next Harrison Ford: He starred in action movies like “Daredevil” and “Armageddon” and even briefly filled Mr. Ford’s old shoes in the role of Tom Clancy hero Jack Ryan in 2002’s “The Sum of All Fears.”
But Mr. Affleck’s career as a blockbuster leading man never quite soared, and in recent years his directing efforts, “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Town,” have shown more promise than any of his gigs in front of the camera. “Argo,” Mr. Affleck’s third directorial turn, suggests a different path for his career: Following not Mr. Ford, but Ron Howard, the actor-turned-director who, with films like “Apollo 13” and “A Beautiful Mind,” often represents the epitome of major-studio competence.
Mr. Affleck’s sensibility is grittier than Mr. Howard’s and considerably more focused on violence, as well as the sociological factors that create it. But his confident work on “Argo” suggests that, like Mr. Howard, he is a director who can be counted on to deliver as a solid and engaging storyteller.
Part of the trick, of course, is selecting good material. “Argo” certainly qualifies. It’s the so-strange-it-could-only-be-true tale of a secret CIA mission to rescue six American diplomatic officers who managed to escape from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran when it was overrun to start the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis.
Mr. Affleck plays Tony Mendez, the agent who helped craft and execute an absolutely bonkers plan to get the six Americans hiding in the Canadian ambassador’s home safely out of the country. The cover story they chose was of the so-crazy-it-just-might-work variety: a Hollywood production crew scouting locations for a big sci-fi movie.
The challenge was to make it look real. Mendez enlists help from a Hollywood makeup effects artist, John Chambers (John Goodman), and a producer, Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin), to create an entire fake-movie-infrastructure: cheesy sci-fi posters, a production office, script and storyboard — even a press announcement in Variety. Eventually Mendez makes his way to Iran to help the six trapped Americans learn their cover stories and escape.
Mr. Affleck handles the proceedings with the deftness of an old studio hand, nimbly juxtaposing the nerve-wracking tension in Iran with the comic absurdity of the operational details back in the U.S.
If there’s a weak point, it’s the script by Chris Terrio, which was based on a “Wired” article by Joshuah Bearman. Mr. Terrio has designed scenes to build tension, but includes too many characters that he doesn’t quite develop.
The best compliment I can pay to the film is that it feels like a movie from an earlier era — less frenetic, less showy, more focused on narrative than sensation. Part of that is stylistic: Mr. Affleck borrows heavily but effectively from 1970s political thrillers, adopting that era’s grittier film stock and harsher light. He even sneaks in a few shots that directly reference “All the President’s Men.” But part of it is a straightforward focus on storytelling basics.
It’s clever, in other words, but mostly it’s watchable and entertaining. Mr. Affleck’s movie may be about a silly, fake film, but the work he does behind the camera is real — and very good.
★★★½
TITLE: “Argo”
CREDITS: Directed by Ben Affleck; screenplay by Chris Terrio
RATING: R for violent imagery, harsh language
RUNNING TIME: 120 Minutes
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By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
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