Solid if expected

Rating: 7/10 (16 October 2012)

There's been a lot of big buzz surrounding this movie that it's hard not too be a little disappointed. Let's just say this Ben Affleck is a great director and he always makes solid, interesting films but he has yet to make another film that excels that region into masterpiece territory. Argo although ambitious in it's storytelling and premise is sadly not that film. The film based on a true story focuses on a CIA agent that concocts a plan to free 6 American Hostages from Iran by posing them as members of a film crew. The scenes in Iran are suspenseful and the ones in Hollywood are pretty funny. Performance wise in my opinion Alan Arkin seems to steal the show as a big time Hollywood mogul and Bryan Cranston fleshes out his supporting role nicely. As for the others although it's nice to see Clea Duvall, Rory Cochrane and John Goodman amongst others on screen they aren't really given a lot to do. The Hostages in general are a bit underdeveloped and the film could have even been more suspenseful had a been a bit more engaged by him. As for Ben Affleck doing double duty he's a great director but still not the best actor. Although his skills have improved he would do better to let someone else take the leads in his films with a little more presence. All in all it's a solid film with very interesting subject matter told well if a little bit expected. And another notch in the actor/directors belt after two solid films he adds a third, at this point I'd definitely see anything he directs.