Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, and Alan Arkin
Directed by: Ben Affleck
Screenplay by: Chris Terrio and Joshuah Bearman
Based on a true declassified story
This is the second movie about someone attempting to rescue people that I've seen in a week. Only this one is much better than Taken 2.
It's 1980 and the Iranian revolution is in full swing. The U.S. Embassy has just been taken over by Iranian revolutionaries and the Americans working in the embassy have been taken hostage. But six of the Americans escaped through a back door and are being sheltered at the Canadian Ambassador's home until they can find a safe way out.
Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) is a CIA exfiltration specialist. Basically, it's his job to rescue people from hostage situations. So this time, he's in charge of making sure these six Americans get home safely. At first, the CIA considers sending in bicycles and having the Americans ride all the way to the Turkish border. But Mendez comes up with a better bad idea for the operation.
It's time to make a fake movie called Argo, a Sci-Fi flick that will resemble a futuristic Middle East region. That's where John Chambers (John Goodman) and Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) come in. They're going to be producers on this fake film.
It's up to Mendez to convince the Iranians that they're a Canadian film crew looking for shooting locations so that he can get the six Americans home safely.
For those of you who are either fond of history and know the story or lived through the time in which all of this was happening, you probably know how it ends. It is a true story after all.
I like the style in which the film is made. It really looks like a 1970s or 1980s film because the quality isn't so great if you put the film against today's standards for visual quality. It makes the film seem a bit more authentic to the time period in which it takes place.
Ben Affleck delivers a relatively unemotional performance playing a character who doesn't seem to have a whole lot of life, but executes the role quite well. I thought John Goodman and Alan Arkin were the best performers in the film. They seem to have a lot of fun in their roles and truly become their characters. My favorite exchange of dialogue in the film:
Chambers: "So you've come to Hollywood to act like a big shot without actually doing anything."
Mendez: "Yeah."
Chambers: "You'll fit right in."
This is the second film I have seen that Affleck directs as well as stars in (The Town being the first). I enjoy his style as a director better than I enjoy his performance as an actor. He turns Argo into something more than a suspenseful rescue film and makes it into a tribute to the six American embassy workers who went through this ordeal and to those who were involved in the rescue operation.
I don't say this lightly, but this is my #3 favorite movie of the year, behind The Avengers at #2 and The Dark Knight Rises at #1. Argo will definitely be Oscar nomination worthy, in which category I am not sure of yet but hopefully Best Picture and Best Director. It is absolutely a must see film, even if you're not sure about it.
I give Argo an A+.
Directed by: Ben Affleck
Screenplay by: Chris Terrio and Joshuah Bearman
Based on a true declassified story
This is the second movie about someone attempting to rescue people that I've seen in a week. Only this one is much better than Taken 2.
It's 1980 and the Iranian revolution is in full swing. The U.S. Embassy has just been taken over by Iranian revolutionaries and the Americans working in the embassy have been taken hostage. But six of the Americans escaped through a back door and are being sheltered at the Canadian Ambassador's home until they can find a safe way out.
Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) is a CIA exfiltration specialist. Basically, it's his job to rescue people from hostage situations. So this time, he's in charge of making sure these six Americans get home safely. At first, the CIA considers sending in bicycles and having the Americans ride all the way to the Turkish border. But Mendez comes up with a better bad idea for the operation.
It's time to make a fake movie called Argo, a Sci-Fi flick that will resemble a futuristic Middle East region. That's where John Chambers (John Goodman) and Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) come in. They're going to be producers on this fake film.
It's up to Mendez to convince the Iranians that they're a Canadian film crew looking for shooting locations so that he can get the six Americans home safely.
For those of you who are either fond of history and know the story or lived through the time in which all of this was happening, you probably know how it ends. It is a true story after all.
I like the style in which the film is made. It really looks like a 1970s or 1980s film because the quality isn't so great if you put the film against today's standards for visual quality. It makes the film seem a bit more authentic to the time period in which it takes place.
Ben Affleck delivers a relatively unemotional performance playing a character who doesn't seem to have a whole lot of life, but executes the role quite well. I thought John Goodman and Alan Arkin were the best performers in the film. They seem to have a lot of fun in their roles and truly become their characters. My favorite exchange of dialogue in the film:
Chambers: "So you've come to Hollywood to act like a big shot without actually doing anything."
Mendez: "Yeah."
Chambers: "You'll fit right in."
This is the second film I have seen that Affleck directs as well as stars in (The Town being the first). I enjoy his style as a director better than I enjoy his performance as an actor. He turns Argo into something more than a suspenseful rescue film and makes it into a tribute to the six American embassy workers who went through this ordeal and to those who were involved in the rescue operation.
I don't say this lightly, but this is my #3 favorite movie of the year, behind The Avengers at #2 and The Dark Knight Rises at #1. Argo will definitely be Oscar nomination worthy, in which category I am not sure of yet but hopefully Best Picture and Best Director. It is absolutely a must see film, even if you're not sure about it.
I give Argo an A+.
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