Affleck soars

Rating: 10/10 (25 October 2012)

Ten out of ten
Ben Affleck. When I first saw Affleck in some film or other back in the '90s, I thought, ho-hum, some pretty boy who'll fade away. Then the early 2000s and Affleck's thing with JLo. Adios, amigo.
Didn't see him after that until I saw The Company Men. Hmm. I liked the movie, and Affleck seemed to be improving with age. Then The Town, which he co-wrote the script for, acted in, and directed. HMM. This guy's showing some real legit talent. Need to watch him more carefully.
Now Argo. If it doesn't win an Academy Award (Best Actor, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screen Writer, whatever), then the guys who vote on such things should be thrown to the crocodiles. In addition to Affleck, I thought all the actors, including the Iranian extras, were spot on. And the clever and adept blending of the Hollywood movie life (Arkin and Goodman were wonderful), the CIA versus Foggy Bottom, and Tehran in the grip of the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Revolutionary Guard was spot on too.
And pay close attention to the beginning, which traces in documentary fashion events in Iran from the fall of Mossaddegh in 1953 through the machinations of the British and American intelligence agencies segueing to the depredations of the Shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi) and his wife, who inhabited a cocoon where they and their cronies indulged themselves with luxuries and extravagances, abetted the use of torture, and allowed the shocking abrogation of the Iranian people's human rights. The Iranians were stir crazy-mad to make the Shah pay for his crimes--scenes well depicted in Argo--and wanted the US to return him to Iran to stand trial. This forms the crucial political background to the siege and storming of the US Embassy in Iran on 4 November 1979.
I was really surprised to learn the Tehran scenes were all shot in LA and environs (hey, not that I expected the film crew to have gone to Tehran). My only quibble were the occasional what were meant to be aerial shots of Tehran with the Alborz mountains in the backdrop showing their CGI origins. But that's a minor quibble. All in all, a really terrific movie that grips you from beginning to end even though we, the audience, know how it will end. And Affleck accomplished all this on a lean and mean budget. See. It can still be done.
I'm left wondering where Mr. Affleck's going next. If it's anywhere like Argo, I'll be there.