MOVIE REVIEW - Argo

New this week, the new George Clooney/Ben Affleck produced drama Argo, is new in theaters.

Argo is based on a true story from a declassified mission surrounding the Iranian Hostage crisis of 1979.  Should be noted, Clooney is not in this movie.  This is also a movie that has a higher sense of relevance right now in light of recent events in the Middle East.  Many similarities.

For those not around in 1979, during a revolution in Iran in November of 1979, a group of young Iranians took over the American embassy in Tehran and held many Americans hostage for 444 days while the world mostly watched helplessly.   President Carter's presidency was torpedoed and sunk by this gripping saga.  This movie deals with a secret CIA mission to free 6 Americans who escaped the embassy takeover and took refuge at the house on the Canadian ambassador (with tremendous personal risk to himself and wife)  for about 6 months.  All the while being hunted down by the Iranians.  But never found or captured.

This is the story of the amazingly brave CIA agent "Kevin" (Affleck) and his strange, but brilliant plan to go to Iran and bring them home safely.  He convinces the CIA to invent a movie called Argo.   He will pose as a Canadian filmmaker, fly to Iran and give the 6 new Canadian identities and fly them out of the country as members of his film crew.   It is a story of incredible bravery and cooperation between countries for a common good.  And overall this is a very good movie.

Affleck can make really good and really bad movies. And this is a good one.  I love his role choices over the past year or two.  He is great as this creative, and steely CIA agent, who takes incredible risks to save these people.   This movie also boasts a wonderful and perfectly cast ensemble of John Goodman, Alan Sorkin, Bryan Cranston and many others.  Argo is exciting, spellbinding and really tense in spots.  I always think it's great movie making when you can take a true story, and even though many in the audience know the eventual outcome, and still make it exciting.  Very well done in that regard.

But make no mistake, Argo makes its own statement.  It tells you the parts of the parts of history that it wants to, and doesn't always fill out its dance card completely.   It reluctantly gives credit to the CIA for the mission success because it has to. Because in the end, the CIA did the heavy lifting.   Even tough it is a completely shared credit, you can feel Argo would far prefer to give it all to Canada.   Argo also feels the need to show that people in America were unjustified in their outward anger in such trying times.  As good as much of this is from a movie perspective, you can feel an uncomfortable reluctance on the movie makers part to show America in a positive light.

Argo.  So much of this is very good, and exciting.  It's always compelling to go back and watch history that is real and relatively current played out, and this is a story worth telling.  Hollywood will more than likely think of Argo at Oscar time when the nominations are handed out.