Argo Review
By. Cameron Hallinan
From what I’ve heard Jimmy Carter wasn’t much of a president but from what I can see, Ben Affleck is one damn good director. Sure people may be skeptical of the man’s work in the directing department, given his track record as an actor. I myself lost count of how many face palms I made while looking through his previous acting efforts which include: Gigli, Daredevil, Surviving Christmas, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor. Yeah, it does seem like he’s using Eeeny Miney Moe to pick those crappy movies. But after him making the sublime mystery Gone Baby Gone and the decent heist flick The Town, I think it’s fair to consider Affleck as an accomplished moviemaker. Now for his third effort, he has made Argo which is a superb thriller filled with suspense and humor; additionally, it is based on a true story. Back in 1979 when the Americans were taken hostage in Iran, six people managed to get away and hide out in the Canadian ambassador’s house. The CIA needed to get the people out of there before they were found out, captured and killed by the revolutionaries. One operative (Ben Affleck) came up with the idea that the people would pose as a movie crew scouting locations for a fictional science fiction film called Argo. The movie delivers the story rather well even if you do feel like there were certain scenes that were fabricated in order to bring up the tension. There isn’t too much else to criticize here except maybe it feels a little uneven at times given the difference in tone when it switches settings. But you can give stuff like that a pass since these are only minor nitpicks as all of the other aspects of the movie are thoroughly solid. As for the fake movie stuff, I really enjoyed the commentary on the process of filmmaking and the shallowness of Hollywood. The soundtrack is well chosen and John Goodman and Alan Arkin both provide great side performances. Argo runs nearly all the gambits that all great movies should: humor, drama and entertainment and it nails them all with great success. It definitely feels like a story worth telling in the hands of Affleck and that shows. Argo is certainly worth a trip to the movies.
Grade: B+
By. Cameron Hallinan
From what I’ve heard Jimmy Carter wasn’t much of a president but from what I can see, Ben Affleck is one damn good director. Sure people may be skeptical of the man’s work in the directing department, given his track record as an actor. I myself lost count of how many face palms I made while looking through his previous acting efforts which include: Gigli, Daredevil, Surviving Christmas, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor. Yeah, it does seem like he’s using Eeeny Miney Moe to pick those crappy movies. But after him making the sublime mystery Gone Baby Gone and the decent heist flick The Town, I think it’s fair to consider Affleck as an accomplished moviemaker. Now for his third effort, he has made Argo which is a superb thriller filled with suspense and humor; additionally, it is based on a true story. Back in 1979 when the Americans were taken hostage in Iran, six people managed to get away and hide out in the Canadian ambassador’s house. The CIA needed to get the people out of there before they were found out, captured and killed by the revolutionaries. One operative (Ben Affleck) came up with the idea that the people would pose as a movie crew scouting locations for a fictional science fiction film called Argo. The movie delivers the story rather well even if you do feel like there were certain scenes that were fabricated in order to bring up the tension. There isn’t too much else to criticize here except maybe it feels a little uneven at times given the difference in tone when it switches settings. But you can give stuff like that a pass since these are only minor nitpicks as all of the other aspects of the movie are thoroughly solid. As for the fake movie stuff, I really enjoyed the commentary on the process of filmmaking and the shallowness of Hollywood. The soundtrack is well chosen and John Goodman and Alan Arkin both provide great side performances. Argo runs nearly all the gambits that all great movies should: humor, drama and entertainment and it nails them all with great success. It definitely feels like a story worth telling in the hands of Affleck and that shows. Argo is certainly worth a trip to the movies.
Grade: B+