Argo

Argo (2012)

Directed by Ben Affleck

Screenplay by Chris Terrio

Based on the article, "Escape from Tehran" by Joshuah Bearman

Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Victor Garber, Scoot McNairy, Kerry Bishé, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Christopher Denham, Rory Cochrane, Kyle Chandler, Chris Messina, Zeljko Ivanek and Richard Kind

Seeing a trailer for this movie, I was not looking forward to it. I was lukewarm with The Town and Gone Baby Gone was unwatchable. After I was disappointed with numerous movies that were supposed to be great, I was hearing a lot of buzz with the film. Having an 86 Metacritic drives me to the theater and I'm glad I did.

Taking place during Iranian Revolution in 1979, the U.S. Embassy was taken over by angry protesters. Just as the protesters burst in six people: Bob Anders, Lee Schatz, Mark and Cora Lijek, Joe and Kathy Stafford (Donovan, Cochrane, Denham, DuVall, McNairy, Bishé) escape the back way. The six seek refuge at the Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor's (Garber) house.

CIA Director Jack O'Donnell (Cranston) asks Tony Mendez (Affleck) to find a way to extract the six from public execution. Tony comes up with the bad idea of having the six be part of a fake Canadian movie production team scouting locations for a film called "Argo." Tony employs the talents of Oscar winning make-up artist John Chambers (Goodman) and washed up producer Lester Siegel (Arkin) to make the fake movie into a sorta reality.

Even though the movie is based on true events, I was on the edge of my seat. I was happy with the juxtaposition of the compelling heart stopping moments with the comedy relief of Goodman and Siegel. Affleck has grown as director. He made the creative direction of shooting the movie on film and making the movie grainy. It was a very nice touch on his part.

People would probably nitpick certain aspects of the movie that was changed. They need to know that the movie has to take dramatic licenses to make it cinematic.

My Rating