IAR Blu-ray Preview: 'Argo'

Monday, 18 February 2013 12:19 Written by iamrogue

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A week from now, it is most likely that director Ben Affleck’s Argo, which will be available on Blu-ray and DVD beginning February 19th, will have won Best Picture at the 2013 Academy Awards.

While the filmmaker was shockingly snubbed of a Best Director Oscar nomination, he and the film have gone on to win almost every award imaginable including Best Picture and Best Director at the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awards, as well as Outstanding Cast Performance at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Outstanding Directorial Achievement at the DGA Awards. Affleck previously won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay along with Matt Damon for co-writing Good Will Hunting, and Argo marks his third directorial effort following the critically acclaimed Gone Baby Gone, and The Town.

The film is set in the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian revolution when militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. In the midst of the chaos six Americans managed to slip away and found refuge in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber). Knowing it was only a matter of time before the six would be found and likely killed, the Canadian and American governments asked the CIA to intervene. The CIA turned to their top “exfiltration” specialist, Tony Mendez (Affleck), to come up with a plan to get the six Americans safely out of the country. Mendez’s plan involved producing a fake science-fiction movie and having the six Americans pose as Canadian filmmakers so they could get them out of the country safely. In order to do this, he recruited an Oscar-winning makeup artist (John Goodman) and a Hollywood producer (Alan Arkin) to help him with his daring rescue plan.

The new release is available on Blu-ray Combo Pack and single disc DVD. The Combo Pack features the theatrical version of the film in hi-definition on Blu-ray, while the theatrical version is in standard definition on DVD. Both include UltraViolet, which allows consumers to download and instantly stream the standard definition theatrical version of the film to a wide range of devices including computers, compatible tablets, smartphones, game consoles, Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players.

The Blu-ray Combo Pack includes several extras and special features, as well as feature-length commentary from Affleck and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Chris Terrio. The special features include “Picture-In-Picture: Eyewitness Account,” a documentary about the Iran revolution, as well as “Rescued From Tehran: We Were There,” which includes interviews with President Jimmy Carter, Tony Mendez, and the actual six Americans that the film is about. Other features include “Argo: Absolute Authenticity,” where Affleck explains how he re-created the world of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, “Argo: The CIA and Hollywood Connection,” which features Affleck and Mendez discussing the phony movie that saved the six Americans hiding in the Canadian Consulate, and “Escape From Iran: The Hollywood Option,” where members of the Canadian government take a look at the risks their country took to shelter their neighbors to the south.

No matter what the outcome is at next week’s Academy Awards, it is clear that Argo has been a turning point in Ben Affleck’s directorial career and is definitely one of the best films of 2012.

You can "Argo, fuck yourself" on Blu-ray and DVD beginning February 19th.

To read our interview with Ben Affleck about Argo, please click here.