'Argo' A Review

'Argo' is a film about the rescue of six American diplomats in Iran in 1979. Ben Affleck stars as Tony Mendez the CIA agent who went into Iran under the guise of a film scout for the fictitious movie Argo. The film has a lot of potential which is never realized. A majority of the film is spent in the US setting up the fake film. We get cameos from John Goodman and Alan Arkin which are decent but they have roles with no real meat. Throughout the film Affleck tries way to hard to appear stoic and aloof. There is nothing to his performance other than staring intently into the camera with hair in his eyes.

The interesting part of the film has little time actually spent on it. The six diplomats, the focus of the film, have very little screen time and very little dialogue. It's clear to me as a viewer that all six actors did a lot of work and could have offered great performances if actually given something to do. To me the  interesting part of the film is the six people hiding out in Iran for over two months wondering what their fate would be. Affleck and the fake trappings to the fake film take up most of the movie but hold very little interest. Once Affleck actually gets to Iran the movie quickly moves through the rescue and the movie resolves.

An interesting idea with an inappropriate focus.

Rent It.