Ben Affleck, arguably becoming one of the finest modern action directors

Rating: 9/10 (2 November 2012)

Director and lead actor Ben Affleck is likely to get even more "cred" for this one. That's saying a lot about someone who's already directed 'The Town'. Well, his new film is suspenseful, entertaining, and surprisingly funny.
You may think this film is about the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. The reason is because it starts off with the beginning of the US embassy break-in, etc. However, it really does more of following Ben Affleck's mission to try to get the six hostage-evading Americans out, and the CIA's excuse: them being crew members of a fake film named...you guessed it..."Argo". I won't reveal any more after that, but that's not really a spoiler.
The acting was top-notch, especially by Ben Affleck. The casting was excellent except for a thing that some are already talking about: why does Affleck (a Caucasian guy) play Tony Mendez (a Hispanic guy)? Personally, I think it's not enough of a gaffe to bring the whole quality of the film down, but it's really something the crew should have considered a little more. The pacing is good; people should rarely, if ever, be bored by the combination of a fake sci-fi film and a CIA rescue mission in Iran anyway.
The suspense is amazing. You'll constantly be watching to see what happens with Mendez and the six Americans. There's also a good amount of humor packed in these two hours, and it's not just a bunch of forgettable one-liners, it's recurring jokes, lots of them delivered by just the right guy: Alan Arkin, who is the producer of the movie-within- the-movie.
Overall, 'Argo' is amazing. So many scenes are well-executed with good acting, pacing, camera angle choice, and obviously it handles the historic story well.