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Ben Affleck offered hints of true directorial chops with “Gone Baby Gone,” then boldly proved his mettle with “The Town,” a gripping action saga that saw its maker channel greats like Michael Mann.
With “Argo,” Affleck takes a step backward, shaping a hard-to-believe true story into a hard-to-like political thriller, which traffics in irksome clichés and panders to target viewers. Based on the tale of six U.S. diplomats rescued from Tehran during the Iran hostage crisis, the 1979-set film features Affleck as a CIA specialist whose method for freeing the Americans is staging a faux movie shoot.
“Argo” begins with the paranoid verve of a tense ’70s drama as Iranian protesters storm the U.S. embassy, and documents are furiously shredded before the whole building is seized. Affleck may be skilled in demonstrating his influences, but with his latest effort, he sends a slowly snowballing message of self-interest, while oddly and presumptuously appealing to small-minded voters in Hollywood and beyond.
Stateside, John Goodman and Alan Arkin play a makeup artist and a crotchety producer, respectively, and their shrill, one-note exchanges are little more than self-deprecating nyuks for the Hollywood set. The pair are called in to consult on the fake movie (a sci-fi fantasy that shares this film’s title), and in an attempt to skewer the biz for pushing a mask-wearing grind akin to espionage, they roast Tinseltown in a way that suggests they’re really currying Academy favor.
What’s more, Affleck renders Muslims as almost uniformly villainous, which, shows the terror of the time and stokes a certain right-wing, post-9/11 mentality. And there’s not much working in the film’s basic narrative arc, either. Briskly paced throughout, “Argo” builds to a run-of-the-mill, anticlimactic end, with a triumphant coda that feels terribly unearned.
As the rumored Oscar frontrunner, “Argo” has shown that people want Affleck to succeed, but from an excess of put-upon prestige to a glaringly random shirtless shot of the actor/director, it also suggests that no one’s cheering for Affleck louder than Affleck himself.
Argo
R
One-and-a-half reels out of four
Now playing in area theaters
Recommended Rental
Magic Mike
R
Available Tuesday
The male-stripper movie that trumped everyone’s expectations, “Magic Mike” might just be 2012’s greatest surprise, standing as Steven Soderbergh’s best film in years and Channing Tatums’s best film yet. The clothes do come off, yes, but this is an artful bit of risque escapism, telling the tale of a guy hunting his dreams without ever playing slave to icky convention. “Magic Mike” is involving and great-looking, and as a randy club owner, Matthew McConnaughey gives one of this year’s best male performances.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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