Argo Review

Ben Affleck nails it for the third time in a row. Since becoming a feature film director with the 2007 Gone Baby Gone, Ben Affleck has made the successful transition to director with now 3 great films under his belt. Argo tells the story of the 6 Americans who hid in the Canadian ambassadors residence when the Iranian people stormed the US embassy in the 1970's and the CIA operative who created and executed the plan to get them out. Argo is an astoundingly accurate historical film, shots in the film are lifted straight from the real world events and everything is meticulously detailed, more amazing is how incredibly easy to digest it is. The film does a great job making sure the audience understands whats going on without ever being pandering. The film unfortunately loses some of its intended affect by its tone, which reveals the outcome far too early making the tension fall flat in the climatic finale.

Argo is filled to the brim with fantastic actors giving strong performances. Ben Affleck who seems to do best when directing himself pushes his character a little into the background while giving the supporting characters more of a chance to shine. Everyone from Alan Arkin and John Goodman who play filmmakers in Hollywood who lend their expertise to help the CIA mission and Bryan Cranston who plays the CIA director responsible for making sure the mission goes smoothly. Like I said above the films tone is very telling, with lots of jokes and moments of brevity completely unrelated to the hostage situation in Iran concentrated more on the preposterous sci-fi film which serves as the CIA cover that is going to save the lives of the 6 American embassy worker. And while at times the movie can be tense and dramatic it quickly differs that energy as soon as it can with a return to the comic pairing of Arkin and Goodman's characters.

Argo isn't as good as Ben Affleck other two directorial features but it continues to prove his talents as a director to watch. Both The Town and Gone Baby Gone were fresher and felt higher stake or maybe its simply because Affleck didn't write the script for Argo. Whatever the case may be Affleck has crafted a great spy film that accurately depicts the events in which its based and filled it with great performances. Will Argo be remembered, probably not; but is Argo a re-validation of a great director, sure is and its a decent enough time to spend two hours.

(3 out of 5)