A flop

Rating: 5/10 (3 August 2014)

A story about people escaping from Iran by pretending to be a SciFi film crew? A great concept for a movie! Initially I didn't realise this was based on a true story. I thought it was just someone's quirky take on a espionage thriller. It just goes to show that fact is often stranger than fiction.
Shame then that the execution of the movie was poor. Ben Affleck failed singularly to create any real tension throughout, bar a half- decent scene at the airport in which the Americans almost get caught at the last hurdle.
I think the biggest problem is that there's too little focus on the diplomats trapped in Iran - who should have been the main and most interesting characters. After a superb opening scene which features the Iranian Revolution, the focus switches to the US and the production of the fake SciFi film. Various Hollywood characters are introduced such as fake producers, that seemed boringly superfluous to me.
By the time Affleck makes it to Iran, all pace has been lost from the movie and it's never really regained. The scenes in Iran, which mainly consist of the diplomats arguing with Affleck about whether his plan is a good idea, turn out to be dull. Yes I know it's supposed to be true to life, but it's rather short on thrills and spills.
All in all in my view this movie was a flop.