Argo (2012) dir. Ben Affleck
Starring: Ben Affleck, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Victor Garber, Clea Duvall

By Alan Bacchus

To set things up Affleck crafts a terrific siege sequence wherein the angry Iranian mob storm the embassy in Tehran nabbing 70+ American citizens - a sequence which expertly weaves period news footage with authentically recreated scenes to put us in the time and place of the era. And before that Affleck provides us with a fine history of the background players contributing to the big picture stakes.

Affleck is as good a hero leading man as he is a director here. He plays Tony Mendez, an experienced but lonely family man who has recently split for his wife and child. After dismissing the ill-conceived schemes by the State Dept. brass to get the Americans out of the country, Mendez hatches a plan to get them out via a fake Hollywood movie being made by Canadian filmmakers.

Mendez is thus forced to ingratiate himself with the oddball eccentrics of Hollywood, specifically producer Lester Siegel (Arkin) and special effects artist John Chamber (Goodman) to build the elaborate rouse, which includes finding a real script, drawing real story boards and generating real publicity for Mendez's fake movie, entitled Argo.

Unfortunately, Argo is top-heavy with most of the tension, intrigue and humour at the beginning of the film. By the time Affleck is in the country and executing his plan it's relatively easy-going. Conflict exists between some of the Americans, who are skeptical of the ridiculous scheme. Suspense is manufactured through presumably exaggerated events of ticking-clock jeopardy. At one point the group finds themselves at the airport checking in, but they learn that their tickets have been cancelled by the White House. It's a scene conveniently cut in real-time with frantic phone calls made to the CIA colleagues at home to have their tickets reinstated into the computer system. And the final race to get on the flight and have the plane take off before the Iranian guards can catch them on the tarmac and runway feels completely false and manufactured.

And so sadly, despite the impressive beginning, Argo ends with a slight whimper. And for Canadians it's a feeling of inadequacy and embarrassment, as we discover that our great political triumph, taking credit for the heroic escape, was a sham and part of the CIA classified cover-up. These revelations also negate the 1980s Made for TV Escape From Tehran, which dramatizes the Canadian cover-up version.

But this is Ben Affleck firing on all cylinders as a new director, free of his Boston comfort zone and working with a new script that he didn't write.


***

The Town (2010) dir, Ben Affleck
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner

**

By Alan Bacchus

On the recently released Blu-Ray/DVD of the The Town, Ben Affleck's second film as director, there's both the original 125 mins version and a heavily expanded 153mins. Unfortunately both versions produce the same reaction, slight admiration for being slightly better than Gone Baby Gone but mostly frustration for being aesthetically tepid, uninspired and simply adequate.

This is Ben's Michael Mann movie, an ambitious aspiration, an action film with ‘character’. Ben Affleck plays Doug MacRay a lifetime criminal who plies his trade in the bank robbery capital of the United States - Charlestown Mass. While he's characterized as a professional thief with ethics and honour, his right hand man Jem Coghlin (Jeremy Renner) is a loose cannon who continually disrupts MacRay's plans, specifically in their latest job where we see Jem take hostage an innocent but gorgeous bank clerk Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall). Since they were masked, after the job, Doug tracks Claire down and covertly starts a relationship in order garner information about the police investigation.

But Doug falls in love with her, which of course runs counter to effectiveness of the crew. Jem in particular takes offence, causing a rift in their lifelong friendship. Meanwhile the FBI headed by Jon Hamm is hot on their tail, climaxing in a series of taut action sequences.

The Town packs in a lot of plot, character and backstory, unfortunately it’s one of those movies where characters tell lengthy heartfelt stories of their past in order to get the necessary information across to the audience. This is passed off as 'character depth', but it usually comes off as a dull and lazy style of storytelling.

Jon Hamm also serves to explain the exposition. During his investigation he discovers the long history of the bank robbers, specifically for Doug whose family past influences his actions in the present. Other wise Hamm has no other significant narrative purpose than as the ticking clock for Affleck and his crew.

The most interesting relationship in the film is between Jem and Doug, who are characterized like the Harvey Keitel/Robert De Niro relationship in Mean Streets, with Renner as Jonny Boy/De Niro and Affleck as the Charlie/Keitel character. Unfortunately Ben Affleck is so overly righteous and sincere to be a credible gangster. At every turn Doug seems reluctant to commit to his chosen trade. Yet, we never really see any internal conflict or regret for his life of crime. In the extended version there’s a montage scene early wherein we see the gangster crew living it up with strippers, drugs and gambling. Affleck even films himself looking surly while getting a lap dance from a red hot stripper. Even the sentimental ending, wherein Doug gets to atone for his sins, feels tacked on and false.

I think what Affleck needs to do is get out of Boston, lighten up and stop taking his work so seriously. Between the preachiness of this film and the contrived melodrama of Gone Baby Gone, to use some Boston Red Sox baseball references his throwing smoke, but is too wild and off the mark, so far.

Admittedly Affleck shows some muscular panache with the action. As such The Town seems to be the ideal stepping stone film for Affleck to find a franchise gig, like Jon Favreau’s attachment to Iron Man. So despite my indifference to this, I actually look forward to his third film.

The Town is available on Blu-Ray and DVD from Warner Home Entertainment