A good film - pity about the factual inaccuracies.

Rating: 7/10 (18 April 2016)

This is the film about the rescue of 6 American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran in 1980. It is directed by and stars Ben Affleck.
The movie has won almost every award going and Affleck picked up countless best director awards, and even though he was not nominated for a best Director Oscar, he did pick up the Oscar for best film. This type of movie has never particularly appealed to me, but I have been a huge fan of Affleck ever since his excellent film The Town in 2010, and given the universal acclamation, I decided to give it a go. I wasn't disappointed. It is a very good film. As I heard someone say the other day, it was so good that you got totally caught up in the drama and excitement of the rescue, even though you already knew the outcome. A good movie has the ability to do this, as is evident in such blockbusters as 'The Titanic', where everyone knew exactly what was going to happen.
There is little I can find to say in criticism of this movie - but I will try... The cast provided a great ensemble performance, with no single actor being particularly outstanding, and the story romps along at a good pace to prevent our interest and excitement from flagging. All in all a highly enjoyable, and expertly made film, but whether it deserves the superlative accolades that have been showered upon it – I remain unconvinced. Personally, I think that 'The Town' is a much better movie.
It's probably just me; I'm sorry but I just cannot find John Goodman believable in any role he has played since he was Roseanne Barr's husband in the long-running American sitcom. To my mind, he always has been and always will be that slob of a working-class father with dysfunctional kids and a nutcase for a wife. Everything else he has tried to do, in my opinion, simply doesn't come off. He certainly doesn't ruin Argo, and does his best to deliver as good a performance, but for me, he is always the slob from 'Roseanne'.
There are also a number of totally unnecessary and silly factual inaccuracies. These deliberate errors glorify the America's involvement while disparaging or ignoring the contributions of other countries. This is quite sad, and it took a number of protests before Affleck conceded he had indeed misrepresented the truth. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth - a pity, because in all other respects, Argo is a pretty good film.