Proficient yet kind of boring

Rating: Null/10 (6 April 2014)

One of the truths you'll face once you start reviewing stuff with any sort of regularity is the fact that the hardest thing to review is something that's utterly average. It's not particularly good, but you can't in good consciousness call it bad either. So what do you say about it? For me, that's Argo in a nutshell.
Based on the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, it tells the story of American citizens trapped behind enemy lines once the Iranians seized control of the US embassy. And thus it's up to Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), a CIA consultant, to come up with a plan to smuggle the Americans out of the country. What we end up getting is a pretty good heist film, with the usual genre clichés and traditions. We have the plan, the rehearsals, the characters, the double talk, the tight situations. Yet it all stays grounded, because this thing actually happened. There are no high-speed chases or glamorous nightclub visits or over the top villains.
And that's kind of the problem. I'm not claiming that it should have any of those things, or that it's boring because it's trying to be realistic, but the fact still remains that not much happens on screen to capture our attention. The film actually starts very well with the storming of the embassy, but then we cut to Affleck's character and the film comes to a screeching halt as we spent what feels like hours just following this nondescript guy around as he tries to come up with a plan. And the plan itself is actually pretty interesting. I was getting kind of invested in this weird movie they were using as a cover. But then, just as it was becoming interesting, we cut back to the hiding Americans and we start the whole process of building up interest once again.
I really feel that I do not belong to this film's target audience. Because it really is a good film. Academy Award for Best Picture kind of good. It's just that its way of telling the story and its willingness not to emphasize the story in any way leaves something to be desired if you're like me, a guy who watches films for escapism. And in the end that's what this review is all about. It's my two cents about whether you'll like this film or not if you're like me. And thus I can safely say that I don't think this film is bad, and I'd even recommend it if I knew someone to be into realistic thrillers, but I didn't particularly enjoy it nor would I watch it again.