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Argo packs one hell of a punch, leaving you feeling tense for hours after it's finished - a strong cast and perfect pacing ensures a nail-biting journey, but even though we're informed at the start of the film that it's based off true events (no The Imposter-style misunderstandings this time round!), it's often quite tricky to tell how much of the action has been dramatised for the sake of nudging us closer and closer to the edge of our seats. The question is, of course, who gives a shit, really? It's a fine piece of cinema that opens your eyes, forces you to confront a scary world and offers a chuckle or two along the way - even if it's a little over the top.
If you're excited to go and see Argo but haven't yet had the pleasure, don't go reading up on the incident - this film works best when you know nothing. So you should probably steer clear of this review until after you've seen it!
Bryan Cranston's doing well for himself, isn't he! And he really does do well here, bringing an energy to the film that'd otherwise be lacking - darting around, cracking some great one-liners but keeping it serious. He's just one of the countless fab actors who deliver a splendid performance in Argo - there's also Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin and John Goodman, to name a few. You'll also spot a heap load of folks who've been in things like Lost. And, these 'important' suit-wearing folks get considerably more screen time than the six American's whose lives are at stake, hiding out in Iran. It'd have been nice, perhaps, to have spent a little longer getting to know these ladies and gents and get teary with them, encouraging us to care more than we do, but their early scenes are very short and not at all convincing - until they make a break for it. Their nervousness later on is real enough to more than make up for their naff first half.
Bryan Cranston's doing well for himself, isn't he! And he really does do well here, bringing an energy to the film that'd otherwise be lacking - darting around, cracking some great one-liners but keeping it serious. He's just one of the countless fab actors who deliver a splendid performance in Argo - there's also Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin and John Goodman, to name a few. You'll also spot a heap load of folks who've been in things like Lost. And, these 'important' suit-wearing folks get considerably more screen time than the six American's whose lives are at stake, hiding out in Iran. It'd have been nice, perhaps, to have spent a little longer getting to know these ladies and gents and get teary with them, encouraging us to care more than we do, but their early scenes are very short and not at all convincing - until they make a break for it. Their nervousness later on is real enough to more than make up for their naff first half.
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| "None of you are allowed to talk about this on Facebook." |
Argo's pretty darn good at painting a picture and setting the scene. Nobody stands up after the credits and declares they'd really quite like to go to Iran for a week or two next year. It's depicted as a frightfully dangerous and unforgiving place - and you feel it, you feel scared. Not in a Paranormal Activity way, but in a hopeless 'whyiseverythingsofuckinghorrible' sort of way. If you try to think about yourself in the situation Argo depicts, you just can't. All of this makes the more 'comical' elements to the story seem a touch out of place at times, but on the other hand a gag every now and then certainly serves as a stark contrast to the grim bits, like public hangings and random people being shot for no reason. A particularly nifty scene features Ben Affleck gawping out a window at a bunch of mountains in the distance, and they look beautiful and free and inviting... So, why can't everyone just walk away? The human race has made 'travelling' irritatingly difficult for itself and that's what makes his top secret mission feel so impossible - the paperwork, the lies, the checks, the security - of course he can't just walk out! Of course the shit is going to hit the fan!
To crank up the tension another extra notch, making us sweat so much it's almost sexual, the film plays the same crafty trick on us more than once and every single time we fall for it. It tends to go like this: A person makes a mind-blowingly important phone call that, if not answered, will result in the deaths of six or seven innocent men and women - and guess what? The person who should be answering said phone call isn't answering because they're not in the office, they're busy, they're taking a shit and on and on and we're left pulling our freakin' hair out while an Iranian thinks up a hundred different ways to dispose of the bodies until - yes, finally - whoever is desperately trying to be reached decides to quit whatever it is they're doing to pick up the phone at the last possible millisecond, much to the disapointment of many blood-thirsty Iranians. We then take a breather until the next round of butt-clenchingly stressful phone calls in a world where not a single fucker has a mobile phone.
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| The cast were shocked to read Argo's twist ending where they discover they really are who they're pretending to be... BWOOOONG. |
Here's an enormous spoiler - they survive. They make it out alive and celebrate on the plane the moment it's confirmed that they're out of Iranian air space. Now, is that a wise idea? You've just left Iran, which was filled with people who wanted you dead and made no effort to hide the fact they hated your guts - so you pop open champagne, hug each other and cheer with glee on a plane that's just left the country? It wouldn't be crazy to assume even the nuttiest of Iranians travel, so what would have happened if there was a nutty Iranian on board who suddenly got miffed at the successful escape?! Again, it's all based off true events and we can't be sure how much of Argo has been dramatised for maximum 'OMG'-ness. For example, the 'police car vs aeroplane' chase is a brilliant sequence, but is that how it really played out? It'd be interesting to know.
Everything comes to an end with a magnificent sigh of relief and we're treated to a pleasant scene between the main bearded chap and his wife, who he's not allowed to tell about his recent ordeal. You might like to take a moment and consider why she gazes into his eyes for a good five minutes... (She knows exactly where he has been - that's love!)
Everything comes to an end with a magnificent sigh of relief and we're treated to a pleasant scene between the main bearded chap and his wife, who he's not allowed to tell about his recent ordeal. You might like to take a moment and consider why she gazes into his eyes for a good five minutes... (She knows exactly where he has been - that's love!)
It's all good, aside from the accusation that us Brits' involvement hasn't been depicted correctly. Read up on that here. Otherwise, Argo fuck yourself! It's brill.
★★★★☆
Roo