The ins and outs of Argo and why I'm scratching my head yet again

Rating: 7/10 (19 February 2013)

I actually had high expectations for Argo. I mean how could you not when we've been inundated with trailers for this film for months now. My expectations were also kept in check by the fact that I knew chances are you basically saw the entire film in the half dozen trailers that existed. That turned out to be exactly correct. However, the trailers still looked good and I love a good political thriller especially based on true events so I was excited. I enjoyed Argo. I thought it was good. But that's the furthest you'll get me to go. Academy Award material? Absolutely not, not in my opinion. I am literally scratching my head trying to figure out why critics chose this movie to latch on to and rave about. Its a good story, its decently directed, the late seventies, early eighties setting is especially well done but the action is really just okay, characters are underused in favour of focusing on the event itself and the film only really gets interesting and riveting in the last half hour when they are finally escaping Iran. Ironically, the last half hour is what critics of the film and real life people involved didn't like because it was a "dramatization" and Hollywood-ized to make the film interesting. Yah and? It should be about entertainment and still tell a good story. The last half hour is thrilling and edge of your seat although opens some element of plot holes because how is it Iranian Government can't just stop a plane from taking off from their airport but rather have to chase it down the runway with guns?
Ben Affleck directs and stars in the film and has gotten endless critical acclaim for it. The direction is very well done. His performance felt monotone to me. He was a one note hero that they try to humanize and give a background to but this film solely rests on the laurels of its story and not the characters themselves. Alan Arkin is Oscar nominated for his role and for what?!? I love Alan Arkin...he has given some incredible performances but they're nominating him for angrily stomping through a studio and swearing at people like an angry old man? Because that was the extent of his character. I realize he played a vital role in the entire plan but that felt lost in this story. The exact same could be said for John Goodman's character. Again, I love John Goodman and the person he portrayed was clearly of the utmost importance to this real life mission but his character felt like he was just there in this. He had no depth and at the end of the film we get this little blurb about John Chambers as though he was a HUGE part of the film and instead Goodman felt like nothing more than a cameo. Bryan Cranston was definitely not much more than a passing cameo with a few decent lines that you see every single one of in the trailer. Victor Garber was decent as the Canadian Ambassador but again there was no depth to the character. The six hostages were all good in their roles and they all certainly looked very much like their real life counterparts but I couldn't even name them or tell you who was who.
The film wasn't bad, please don't get me wrong. I think you could sit down and enjoy the story it tells as it was a very important moment in history. Is it a Yay, Go America story...well yes a little bit but not as much as some would say. It certainly pays proper respects to the Canadians' role in it as well. Perhaps Affleck and the writers didn't want to cloud up the true story with too much focus on the individual characters, I can accept that. But then to give any of these actors acclaim for their roles just seem silly because they weren't given any sort of depth to sink their teeth into. I just don't understand why critics grab hold of something and rave about it when I don't see anything truly outstanding about a movie like this at all. It was good, but far from great. I don't believe it'll be a classic film in twenty or thirty years and firmly sits in the vein of being mediocre all around. I guess that's why to each their own. See for yourself because I am almost certain it will win Best Picture this coming Sunday but so far from what I have seen the only Best Picture nominees deserving of it are Les Miserables and Life of Pi but then I still have three more to see. 7/10