The timing of the upcoming release of “Argo” on Blu-ray Feb. 19 (Warner, $35.99) will be handy for those who haven’t seen it but want to do so in time for the Academy Awards.
“Argo” is everything “Zero Dark Thirty” could have been in re-creating a tense covert U.S. action inside the boundaries of an enemy country. It moves quickly and engagingly with moments of humor and nostalgic music of the era from beginning to end. Affleck allows the audience to become emotionally invested in the characters, creating greater suspense and eventually satisfaction by the inevitable end that most of us (should) remember from 1979.
For those too young or out of touch to remember the hostage crisis that played out for about 15 months and which sparked the launch of ABC’s nightly news updates that became “Nightline” and introduced Ted Koppel to the world, the Blu-ray edition enhances the movie experience by providing four hours of multiple informative and entertaining bonus features that delve deeper into the historical elements as well as the making of the movie.
<Review continues below the following 28-minute video, “Argo: Declassified”… >
Through several making-of mini-documentaries, an audio commentary with director Ben Affleck and screenwriter Chris Terrio, and a feature-length picture-in-picture “commentary” with the actual hostages, former President Jimmy Carter, and officials from Canada and the CIA, we learn many interesting factoids and hear many fascinating anecdotes. Among them:
- President Carter asked several news media editors not to reveal that they knew that Americans were being provided sanctuary at the Canadian Embassy.
- Affleck’s lead character of Tony Mendez of the CIA actually had three sons instead of the one portrayed in the movie. And the real Mendez asked Affleck to change the name of the boy in the movie from Michael to Ian, the name of his youngest son who died.
- For a scene where Affleck walked through the lobby of the current CIA lobby, filmmakers had to digitally remove some of the stars on the wall representing many more agents who have been killed in the line of service in the past three decades.