This is Ben Affleck's film all the way and I have to say I am more than impressed. I'm glad that he seems to have discovered what he is really good at. As an actor he was never really convincing. And even though he gives a great understated, albeit a bit one-note, performance here, it is in the director's chair where he excels.

This bizarre 'truth is stranger than fiction' tale has all the hallmarks of being turned into an over-stylized and over-dramatized political thriller. This is anything but that. Much like his performance, Affleck decided to take away the frills, leaving behind a film that is reminiscent of the political thrillers of yesteryear. Solid, made with craftsmanship and more…

Argo, the true life story you couldn’t make up, was always ripe for the Hollywood treatment and for the most part Affleck and co. do a good job of bringing it to the screen. Most should be familiar with the plot by now but if not it revolves around a CIA operation to get American diplomats out of Iran during the revolution. Their cover is an audacious and implausible recce scouting for film locations for a crappy space opera movie. It is easy to see what would attract somebody like Ben Affleck to this project, it has a current political resonance, Hollywood satire and an old fashioned thriller element driving the story forward.

Affleck does a commendable job juggling many…

From gossip-rag pin-up to powerhouse director Ben Affleck has one of the most chequered careers in Hollywood. Channelling experience following his previous two features, tightly wound action thrillers Gone Baby Gone and The Town, his time behind the camera is proving most fruitful. His recounting of the true life story of Argo is no exception and further authorises his position as a meaningful director.

Set in late ‘70s Iran, amidst a violent revolution, a group of CIA operatives strive to rescue six of its US embassy officials who are trapped within the dangerous melting pot. Under the innovative guise of a Canadian film crew scouting locations for an artificial sci-fi flick, exfiltration expert Tony Mendez infiltrates the city’s capital Tehran…

“Fade in on starship landing. An exotic, Middle Eastern vibe. Women gather, offering ecstatic libations to the sky gods. Argo. A science-fantasy adventure.” I got the chance to see the winner of this year’s Academy Award Best Picture, Argo, showing the same promising type of story we got to see in his previous directed film, The Town.
However, unlike The Town, we travel back in time to the heat of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, a time where patriotism and hatred was also at its highest. CIA exfil specialist, Tony Mendez (Affleck) teams up with Academy Award winning makeup artist, John Chambers (Goodman) and veteran film producer, Lester Siegel (Arkin) to create one of the most unstable schemes to extract…