I could count the number of gunshots in Argo on one hand and still have enough fingers to give it a thumb’s up. Yet, without much in the way of conventional action, it’s still one of the most exciting American thrillers in years. Argo will have you shifting backward to find the edge of your seat.

The story certainly gripped Americans in November of 1979. It was the dawn of the Iran Hostage Crisis, when 52 Americans were held in Tehran for an eventual 444 days. But Argo isn’t about them, it’s about six who found an early escape from the American embassy and secret asylum at the home of Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor. Based on information declassified in the late ‘90s, we learn their freedom was owed to a truly implausible plan: set up production on a fake movie, fly in an “exfiltration” specialist posing as a Hollywood producer and take them out disguised as a Canadian production crew.

That specialist is Tony Mendez, played in a perfectly dry, low-key performance by director Ben Affleck. Mendez has more balls than brains; no one would risk their life for a plan like this if given too much time to think it over. Iranian government officials, well-versed in American culture, aren't going to buy the movie premise with just a poster and some storyboards. So thanks to the help of Oscar-winning makeup artist John Chambers (John Goodman) and producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin), the desert-set science-fiction epic Argo is put into pre-production and, for all intents and purposes, becomes a legitimate project.

If the Hollywood scenes openly acknowledge the ridiculousness of Mendez’s mission, those set in the ambassador’s home reinforce its importance. Affleck gives the trapped souls a lot of screen time, crucially. We get to know them, we worry about them. So effective is Argo that, if we still know how the true story ended, we are gripped with suspense as Mendez and the six move, step by agonizing step, to freedom. The climax is contrived and artificially amped up, but Affleck — patient and thoughtful to that point — arguably earns the right to close on a crowd-pleasing note.

Contrary to its title source, Argo is first-class Hollywood filmmaking. It follows the infiltration of a CIA operative into a war zone, but more importantly confirms a former tabloid fixture has snuck in, under our noses, to become the most promising American director of his time.

Director: Ben Affleck
Warner Bros., 120 minutes

Rating: 4.5/5

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