Movie Review: Argo (2012)

Yes, I finally did it and watched Ben Affleck's Argo - probably this year's biggest hit so far.

Ben made a huge comeback after directing The Town and Gone Baby Gone - two movies more loved by the audience than by critics.. But now it's his time with 96% of Rotten Tomatoes, 8.4 IMDB rating and lots of positive (and even more) reviews. So, here is mine...

Probably like most of other people I had great expectations to Argo and they don't fully matched with what I saw, but still this is one of the best films of the year.

Ben Affleck is already an Academy Award winner screenwriter and that seemed to be a huge preference to make a great movie. I think he did an amazing job by adapting a true lifetime story and transferring it on the wide screen. Ben tells a touching story of six US embassy white collars held as a hostages during wide-scale demonstrations. 

The good thing about screenplay is the story itself, a very dynamic, somehow intrigue and a beautiful plot. I liked the smart and very natural dialogues, the mix of documentary and film scenes. Even the happy ending was good because during the whole film I've got attached to those characters so much, I experienced every tricky moment, I felt nervous for police check they had to pass and I argued against president Carter to support Tony's (Ben Affleck) plan.

The acting panel is perfect in the movie. Ben plays so well that he can be palced next to Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson and Ron Howards - actors who turned to directors very successfully. He delivers a zero emotion performance of US government agent who aims to save hostages. He can probably get an Oscar nomination as a lead actor because Hollywood will love extremely positive hero.

But real star of this movie is Alan Arkin playing Lester Siegel - a widely acclaimed Hollywood director helping Tony to make a fake movie. He portrays a smart and funny director being pretty close to most of real directors of our time. He's most natural act in the whole cast of Argo and that is why Alan can get his fourth Oscar nomination, this time for supporting role.

It is hard to say that generally Ben Affleck is a good director, but this time he made a brilliant movie. He connected a very good cast, pictured an amazing screenplay and assembled a suitable technical support for this film. It definitely seems that he took over himself the whole control of Argo's film-making process. Almost every single aspect of the film matched each other making a whole interesting body of motion picture. So, I guess he can be one of the best candidates for this year Director bid.

Finishing the ups of the movie, I'd like to talk about downs of it.

In the end I felt like there is something I expected to get and I missed it. That is called an action. I found the movie a little bit slow. The frames of the movie was changed very (and too) calmly that led me to losing those tense feeling I would love to be accompanied by during two hours. And I found hard to recover my emotions quickly, herewith there is no point in watching Argo without any emotions.

What's the chances of winning Best Picture Oscar?

Chance of nominating is over 100% but not sure about winning. It is good, definitely good, almost perfect. But lacks a polish that is so much important for best picture winner. In the end, I did not clearly imagine Argo holding that title in February. However this is still possible as we've got Les Miserable premiere ahead and Tom Hooper promises a lot this year.

9/10