Argo

Movie Name: Argo
Year of Release: 2012

Director: Ben Affleck

Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Clea Duvall, Scoot McNairy, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, Kyle Chandler, Chris Messina, Titus Welliver, Bob Gunton, Philip Baker Hall, Richard Kind

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7

Synopsis:

Following the commercial and critical success of his first two directorial efforts, "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Town", Ben Affleck is back, tackling a story based on true events. The story of "Argo" follows the events surrounding the hostage situation that occurred in 1979/1980 in Iran with a group of American embassy workers. The group managed to take refuge in the Canadian ambassador's house following the invasion of the American Embassy. Back in the US, Tony Mendez comes up with a concept of portraying the group as part of a film crew and thus manage to secure their safe extraction, before the Iranian regime notices that they are there.
Ben Affleck is clearly an intelligent director, and "Argo" uses a fantastic premise and concept to build a film that brims with tension. The film successfully creates the atmosphere lived in 1979/1980 and provides insight into the tense political situation that dominated the world at that time. The film intertwines the more combustible political and war-like situation, with the more outlandish concept of using a fake Hollywood production to successfully save the hostages. The film really has a fantastic production design and cinematography, but Alexander Desplat and his soundtrack are disappointing - the talented composer is basically copying his own work from Jonathan Glazer's "Birth". The film also falters in Ben Afflecks attempts to make the story one of personal redemption for his character. That belongs to another film. "Argo" is nonetheless a good film worth checking out.