Film Review: Argo

Argo is a drama based on the true events of a secret CIA mission to extract six Americans from Iran in 1980. Iran at this time is going through a revolution and has put a new Islamic government in place. They want to charge the old leader for crimes against the people but he has been granted exile in the US. The people of Iran are deeply angry with this and eventually they end up storming the US embassy, whilst taking all the people they can find as hostages. Little do they know that six Americans have escaped, but the clock is ticking and it’s only a matter of time before the Iranians realise.

The film starts with a brief history of Iran and tells the story of how the region became what it was in 1979-80 in less than two minutes. In this time they dedicate a whole sentence stating that the US and Britain actually helped to overthrow a democratic government and then replaced it with an evil dictator. After skimming over the history of Iran and how the west has screwed over its people on more than one occasion, the film cuts to Iranians appearing to be irrationally angry towards the west.

The story itself though, as already mentioned, is set around a CIA mission that aims to get a group of Americans out of an obviously dangerous place and it is actually told really well. Ben Affleck plays the lead role as CIA agent Tony Mendez and he is also the director of the film. He manages to give a connection with the characters and the audience, even if you don’t really want one. Affleck plays his acting part really well too, but to be honest there isn’t much to his character so he doesn’t have to try too hard. He makes a much better director, telling the story really well and dragging you to the edge of your seat by the end - no matter how you feel about this period of history.

The other characters are also played well, but considering the film is meant to be about them there isn’t much in the way of character development. Affleck still keeps you feeling for them though, by showing that they are very vulnerable and extremely dependent on those around them. There were other characters though that didn’t need that much development because the actor was good enough to play the role perfectly. I’m thinking of John Goodman here, who plays the role of Hollywood makeup artist.

This brings me to another small issue that I had with this film. Argo makes out that Hollywood was the real Hero in this story. Now I don’t mind that so much and it could well be true, I’ve been far too lazy to find out in all honesty. But what I don’t like about it is that as a result of this Hollywood have dramatically overrated this film. Don’t get me wrong it’s a good film; it’s just not as good as the vain people of Hollywood believe.

The Verdict
Argo is a good film and it tells the story of a Hollywood/CIA rescue operation set in the mists of the 1980 Iranian revolution, although fails to put much emphasis on how Iran got to that place to start with. Affleck does a good job in the lead role and a better one at directing. The support actors are really good and no matter what you think to the situation in Iran, you’ll be hoping that the US civilians get out alive. 

LHSRAting for Argo 7.3/10

-Ayden