A R G O

    “Some stories are so incredible, they can only be true. Argo is one such story.”

 "Argo" begins in November 1979, when activists, outraged over the US's granting of asylum to the recently deposed Shah of Iran, stormed and captured the US embassy in Tehran, eventually holding 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The story centers on the extraordinary true story of six American consular employees who were able o flee from the compound, and the efforts of CIA exfiltration specialist Tony Mendez (Affleck) to get them out of the country.

Affleck’s third feature film as a director, Argo, presents this unbelievable hostage rescue mission on screen as a taut, well-paced suspense thriller with so much palpable tension throughout that along with you and the entire audience are on the edge. You know the story but the drama of how it unfolds is of aiming-for-an-Oscar-nod quality. The entire cast is terrific, led by Affleck himself playing Mendez in the movie, but veteran acting legends, John Goodman and Alan Arkin steal the show with their delivery of some of the smartest lines on film this year.

Unarguably, the full credit of one of one of the movies of the year goes to director Affleck, who has transformed himself from Oscar winning screenwriter ( for "Good Will Hunting") to mediocre leading man ("Daredevil", "Gigli") to directorial powerhouse ("The Town", "Gone Baby Gone"). However, "Argo" is an unmitigated triumph. Argo is a ferociously exciting thriller. Yes, it's based on facts. Yes, that's Hollywood code for truth-stretching. But, no, we shouldn't be worried about that, should we?

While his first two films served us notice that Affleck is a director capable of greatness, with “Argo,” he’s gone out and actually achieved it.

Lester Siegel( Alan Arkin) to Tony Mendez ( Affleck): “You want to come into Hollywood and act like a big shot without doing anything?”…..“You’ll fit right in!”