Today’s IMDB Top 250 Guest Review comes from Mark of Marked Movies. He also reviewed Heat for this project – you can read that review HERE. Thanks for the reviews, Mark! š Now let’s hear his thoughts on the movie Argo, IMDB rank 195 out of 250…
There are still some movies up for grabs if anyone wants to do a guest IMDB Top 250 review. You can find the list HERE. See the full IMDB Top 250 list & links to all the films that have been reviewed HERE.
Director: Ben Affleck.
Screenplay: Chris Terrio.
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Scoot McNairy, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Victor Garber, Kyle Chandler, Zeljko Ivanek, Richard Kind, Kerry BishƩ, Chris Messina Michael Parks, Taylor Schilling, Titus Welliver, Bob Gunton, Keith Szarabajka, Philip Baker Hall.
After a great directorial debut with āGone Baby Goneā in 2007 and a brilliant sophomore effort with āThe Townā in 2010, all eyes were on Ben Affleck in his third outing as director. Questions were asked as to whether he could do it again. And the answer? The answer is a resounding, āYesā. Argo completes Affleckās hat-trick behind the camera and confirms that heās definitely a director that has an abundance of talent and awareness.
Based on true events in a post-revolution Iran in 1979. A mob of Ayatollah supporters storm the US Embassy and take 56 American hostages. 6 officers managed to escape, however, and take refuge in the home of a Canadian Ambassador. After two months in hiding and their sanctuary becoming increasingly risky, the CIA hatch a plan to get them home and extraction officer Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) is given that responsibility. His plan is to create a fake movie called āArgoā and pretend that the six officers in hiding are his crew, scouting for shooting locations within the country.
Before going into Argo, I admittedly expected a heavy-handed political thriller but thatās not exactly what it delivers. Apart from the first five minutes of a brief overview of the, questionable, political relations between the U.S. and Iran, it sidesteps any political agenda and gets down to capturing the thrilling, human drama at itās core. Iām not adverse to political filmās at all. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy them but Affleck is wise not to get too bogged down in boardroom banter and bureaucracy when thereās an brilliantly exciting story to tell. It does share similarities with the great political tinged thrillers of the 1970ā²s like Alan J. Pakulaās āAll The Presidents Menā or āThe Parallax Viewā. The late 70ā²s and early 80ā²s style is captured to perfection by cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and Affleckās orchestration can sit comfortably beside any from that great decade of cinema.
Chris Terrioās solid screenplay delivers many dialogue driven scenes but Affleck keeps things moving at a frantic pace and not for a second, does the film ever get dull or drawn out. The tension is almost unbearable at times. Why Affleck didnāt, at the very least, nab an Oscar nomination for his substantial and well-constructed direction here is beyond me. Thereās no doubt that heās in complete command of his material as he leaps from Tehran to Washington to Tinseltown and delivers completely satisfying environments and effortless shifts in tone for the whole film to gel and come to life. He has the ability to capture a politically ravaged country; the backroom jargon of the CIA and the dark humour of Hollywood (that shares more than a passing resemblance to Barry Levinsonās āWag The Dogā). In order to capture this ludicrous, stranger-than-fiction story in itās entirety, it demands a maestro at work and Affleck can certainly consider himself one.
This is the edge-of-your-seat tension that āZero Dark Thirtyā wishes it had. With only three filmās under his hat, youād be forgiven for thinking that Affleck has been at this directing malarky for a very long time. The comparisons with actor, turned quality director, Clint Eastwood will rage on and if anyone thinks otherwise, then Affleck can tell them to āArgo fuck yourselfā.
Mark Walker
Cinema Parrot Disco 