Another step in the right direction for Ben Affleck.

Rating: 9/10 (14 October 2012)

This just a flat out enjoyable film that crackles with suspense, intrigue, intelligence (literally & figuratively) & some very sly humor. It also may be the year's best film.
This outrageous tale of hostage rescue would be impossible to believe if it weren't true & that alone makes it a lot of fun to watch. However the fun is weighted down by the seriousness of what is at stake --real lives in real situations. This is first & foremost a very serious film that doesn't ignore the lunacy of its plot. I can't remember a film that had it both ways -- being both very tense & wickedly funny at times-- & gotten away with it like "Argo" does.
Chris Terrio's script will be studied in film school. Director Affleck has been really good & really really good before ("Gone Baby Gone" & "The Town" were hugely enjoyable), but here takes another big step forward by taking a wild, woolly, huge story & making it look so easy. The movie begins with a lollapalooza hostile takeover of the U.S. embassy in Iran (a great sequence that tops even the action scenes in "The Town") then dials that energy down a bit with never losing its tension & momentum. It also pulls off the trick that "Apollo 13" did by keeping us on edge with a story whose outcome was decided decades ago.
On top of all of this are some very good, if not, great work by the actors. Alan Arkin should be a lock for a Supporting Actor nomination & Bryan Cranston should be considered too. Both have the benefit of having some of the best lines in a screenplay full of them & make the most of them. Affleck is suitably restrained as the CIA ex-filtration agent who is the fulcrum of the heroics here. That restraint is key in making his command of the situation believable without question. John Goodman is in fine form as well.
I left the theater with a lump in my throat & damp eyes. It is that kind of movie.