Movie Review: Argo

Argo

 

Jeremy Cooper: Layout Editor

Director: Ben Affleck

Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin

Synopsis: During the Iranian Hostage Crisis, in which the American embassy was stormed by the Iranians and everyone inside was held captive for 444 days, six Americans manage to escape and take refuge in the Canadian Ambassador’s house. In order to sneak the Americans out of Iran before they are inevitably found out, CIA operations officer Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with “the best bad idea [they] have”: creating a fake movie entitled Argo, and pretending that the Americans are a Canadian film crew looking for an exotic location to shoot it in. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s a true story.

Review: Ben Affleck has grown considerably in the past few years. Having gone from one of the most ridiculed actors of this generation to one of its most promising directors, he crafts his strongest outing to date with Argo. 

The film succeeds in almost every aspect. It’s incredibly tense and exciting (especially during the beginning and ending). It features a fantastic cast who all deliver great performances. The characters are all memorable and well-developed. The period setting shows a vivid attention to detail. It even has a great sense of humor, featuring some really funny lines (i.e. Argo ****-yourself).  

There are some nitpicks, like an unnecessary side-story about Mendez’s family, which takes up very little of the film, and I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the Canadian government’s involvement, since that was hugely important in the real operation. Fortunately, these are minor complaints that don’t detract from the movie that much.

Consensus: Riveting, rousing, and crowd-pleasing, Argo is one of the year’s best films with tension, humor, great writing, and masterful directing.

Rating:  9 out of 10