Argo (Spoiler-Filled Review)

Yeah, yeah. I know what you're thinking. "Isn't it quite late to post a review of Argo?" Yes, this spoiler review has been shelved on my draft folder for nearly two months already so since no other thing to post other than my review of Iron Man 3 (Yes, it's coming this weekend), i'm thinking to review what this blog is all about. I'll review movies old and new, classics and whatever comes on my brain. And to commemorate the return of reviewing really good movies in my blog, i'll review the movie which I already made a review for, and that is Argo. If you haven't seen Argo, you may check my non-spoilery review right about here so without further ado let's start.

NOTE: Again, Spoiler Alert!

Argo is one of my all-time favorite movies and also the best film of 2012. It won 3 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay in the concluded 86th Oscar Awards. There's so much stuff to talk about the movie especially the controversial ending of the movie and the fake sci-fi film being used as a cover to get-away. Oh and if anyone don't know (I guess all of you probably know right now), that Ben Affleck directed and stars in this movie. He did surprisingly entertaining movies like The Town and Gone Baby Gone. The thing about Affleck is that he wasn't that much of a good actor to be honest. I thought he was stiff at times almost in films like Paycheck or Pearl Harbor, he was good though in Good Will Hunting. Okay moving on.

Argo starts with the old WB logo and what's interesting about seeing the film for the first time is that I know this one is gonna special or really exciting. And i'm exactly since we are treated with a monologue of a woman briefly telling Iran's history and what's the cause of the overcontinuing tension between Iranians and Americans during 1979 crisis. What actually happens is that, the previous ruler, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, has been overthrown and replaced with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The Shah, having been diagnosed with terminal cancer, is given asylum in the United States while undergoing treatment.

The response back in Iran is violent, with protestors gathering around the U.S. Embassy. This is where the film actually started. From my research, about 58 employees are in the U.S. Embassy and only 5 have managed to escape through. Those 5, positioned in the Office of Visas building are the ones who have access to the streets. They then get managed to sneak to the Canadian Ambassador's house in there we got our opening.

The opening of the film I thought was the most disturbing and uncomfortable scene to watch in the movie. Well, I guess because it was the most identical to the real life event and the hostage along with that haunting score made it more terrifying. Okay, what's next to that is that is we are getting introduced to Tony Mendez in a midst of an exfiltration plan going in CIA. There were a lot of brainstorming passing through including teachers going in Iran and other stuff. Until Mendez comes home and watches Battle of the Planet of the Apes, he was inspired to do a proposal to the CIA that covers the 'Houseguests' as a fake Canadian film crew scouting for a location shoot for a similar sci-fi film.

To me, this part of the movie is where things slow down. There's nothing much going on so what happen is Mendez flew to Burbank to meet up with John Chambers, a prosthetics artist to help him make the fake film have publicity and to make it seem more real, they call out Lester Siegel to produce it. So, they picked out a script entitled 'Argo' on random, got produced on a fake small production company and call it 'Studio 6', held a press launch out of it to gain slight exposure, and Tony Mendez flew to Istanbul to get the houseguests' passports and slips and flew again through Iran.

Mendez along with the houseguests began to scout for the film and as expected, we need a little of Hollywood thrills along the trip. But of course they survived, they we're caught though when a Iranian photograph the crew while strolling. (Sorry for being too fast with the summary, we needed to get to more stuffs later on, so bear with me..) Only one day left before leaving Iran and things didn't go as planned, the President as pulling off the 'Hollywood Option' and it's up to them to do military rescue to all hostages.

And the climax of the movie basically is, Mendez disagreeing with the unexpected decision and agreed to himself that he's responsible with the houseguests and this is where the thrills and nailbites starts to occur. And yada, yada, yada, Iranian guards caught them and put in a side room; planes' about to depart and they flew to the plane out of Iran successfully. There were a lot of recognition and stuffs, then the movie cuts to black.

Now, like what I said in my non-spoiler review, I said Argo was the most intense and thrilling movies ever. Frankly, I was right with that even though it's hollywood-ized. I have no problem with it, but people kept ranting about it. Of course, they need to give a little kick into the film, otherwise there's great potential it might be a borefest. It was very necessary as it is, and Affleck did it perfectly without shooting a string of bullets (okay, a two of 'em). People should leave the film on how it stands.

There's nothing to talk even more other than its pacing. But anyways, everything about this film is just too great. Character development was great; Editing is flawless; Dialogue is well-made; Acting was amazing; And the finale and wrap of the movie was just one of the most memorable cinematic experiences i've experienced.

Nevertheless, 'Argo' was a thrilling, suspenseful movie that stays true to the events it was based on. Ben Affleck brings us his best movie to date and did a really well-done job on the director's chair.

The geek rates it 9.4/10. I will be back to a lot of reviews including Evil Dead, Star Trek and more.