I know alot of people don't really care for Ben Affleck, I for one have always had a soft spot for the man, I put this down to growing up watching Kevin Smith movies where he always delivers. In recent times Affleck has stepped behind the camera to give us 'Gone Baby Gone' and 'The Town', if you haven't seen either seriously get on that! Now Affleck is going for his hat trick of fine directing and gives us 'Argo' a film that is based loosely on the historical account by Tony Mendez, a former Central Intelligence Agency operative, of the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and Affleck really nails it!
Militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979 in retaliation for the country's support and taking in the recently deposed Shah, who is ill with cancer. As the militants enter the building, the embassy staff works frantically to destroy the classified documents. They burn and shred most before the rioters enter. Although more than 50 of the embassy staff are taken as hostages, six leave the embassy and hide in the home of the Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber). With the escapees' situation kept secret, the United States State Department begins to explore options for "exfiltrating" them from Iran. Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), a CIA specialist brought in for consultation, notes the weaknesses in all of the proposals for how to do so. He is at a loss for an alternative until inspired at home by watching 'Battle for the Planet of the Apes' on TV with his son: he plans to create a cover story that the escapees are Canadian filmmakers, scouting "exotic" locations in Iran for a similar sci fi film.
The film really hits the ground running and never stops, the pacing is fantastic, I'm really trying to think of a lull at any point in it and I can't, you really care for everyone on the screen and what is happening to them. The tenison in this movie is also brilliant, eveyone in the screen was holding their breath for the last half hour as I'm sure you will too! The acting is top notch everyone in this is giving a 100%, the hostages are all really amazing its hard to think of any stand out among them as they were so well played. Affleck also gives a very strong performance as Mendez as does Bryan Cranston playing Mendez' supervisor Jack O'Donnell, but Alan Arkin and John Goodman come very close to stealing the show. Playing movie producer Lester Siegel and special effects make up legend John Chambers the two play off each other so well and very nearly have all the best lines in this movie.
I could go on and on about how much I enjoyed this movie, great cast, great acting, great story and great directing. Do yourself a favour after you finish reading this head down to the cinema and see this movie, I promise you won't regret it.
Militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979 in retaliation for the country's support and taking in the recently deposed Shah, who is ill with cancer. As the militants enter the building, the embassy staff works frantically to destroy the classified documents. They burn and shred most before the rioters enter. Although more than 50 of the embassy staff are taken as hostages, six leave the embassy and hide in the home of the Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber). With the escapees' situation kept secret, the United States State Department begins to explore options for "exfiltrating" them from Iran. Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), a CIA specialist brought in for consultation, notes the weaknesses in all of the proposals for how to do so. He is at a loss for an alternative until inspired at home by watching 'Battle for the Planet of the Apes' on TV with his son: he plans to create a cover story that the escapees are Canadian filmmakers, scouting "exotic" locations in Iran for a similar sci fi film.
The film really hits the ground running and never stops, the pacing is fantastic, I'm really trying to think of a lull at any point in it and I can't, you really care for everyone on the screen and what is happening to them. The tenison in this movie is also brilliant, eveyone in the screen was holding their breath for the last half hour as I'm sure you will too! The acting is top notch everyone in this is giving a 100%, the hostages are all really amazing its hard to think of any stand out among them as they were so well played. Affleck also gives a very strong performance as Mendez as does Bryan Cranston playing Mendez' supervisor Jack O'Donnell, but Alan Arkin and John Goodman come very close to stealing the show. Playing movie producer Lester Siegel and special effects make up legend John Chambers the two play off each other so well and very nearly have all the best lines in this movie.
I could go on and on about how much I enjoyed this movie, great cast, great acting, great story and great directing. Do yourself a favour after you finish reading this head down to the cinema and see this movie, I promise you won't regret it.
