Based on a true story, the Oscar-winning feature is full of thrilling suspense as six American embassy staff, trapped in Tehran during the 1979 US hostage crisis, are smuggled out of Iran.
As anti-American sentiment reaches fever pitch with the storming of the American embassy and hostages taken, six members of the consular staff slip out of a side door and take up hiding in the Canadian Ambassador’s residence. To get them out, an audacious plan proposed by CIA agent Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) involving the scouting of locations for a Hollywood film is reluctantly accepted. A production office is created, plans and casting for the film announced as a full background failsafe is created. It’s easy to get Mendez in, but a lot harder to get six more out.
Directed by Affleck himself and, with a strong emsemble cast, Argo is a full-on, knife’s-edge entertainment as the likes of terrified staffer Joe Stafford (Scoot McNairy) needs to convince security forces he arrived in the country only two days earlier. Back home, Mendez’s boss (Bryan Cranston) can only wait.
Nominated for 7 Oscars in 2013 including best supporting actor (Alan Arkin), sound editing, original score, won 3 – best film, editing, adapted screenplay
Rating: 84%
Director: Ben Affleck (The Town, Gone Baby Gone)
Writer: Chris Terrio (Justice League, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) – based on the Wired magazine article by Joshua Bearman
Main cast: Ben Affleck (The Town, Gone Girl), Bryan Cranston (Trumbo, Why Him?), Scoot McNairy (Gone Girl, Monsters)
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