Argo Movie Reviews

God bless grown men who make swooshy laser sounds with their mouths. Wonderment is the cornerstone of the Hollywood we know and love (and are frequently exasperated by). The magical escape cinema allows, the willingness with which we surrender to surreality and to nonsense, the way we -- gladly, gratefully even --believe in what we choose to, regardless of plausibility or reason. Sometimes, what we are made to buy into is pure lunacy

“HISTORY starts as farce, ends as tragedy,” says director Lester Siegel (Arkin) in the film Argo. Only to be immediately corrected by prosthetics expert John Chambers (Goodman): “It’s actually the other way around.” Who said that, Siegel asks. “Marx,” replies Chambers. “Really, Groucho said that?” Siegel quips. The two of course are fooling around. Argo certainly isn’t. For, this accomplished Ben Affleck-directed film sees both the tragedy

“HISTORY starts as farce, ends as tragedy,” says director Lester Siegel (Arkin) in the film Argo. Only to be immediately corrected by prosthetics expert John Chambers (Goodman): “It’s actually the other way around.” Who said that, Siegel asks. “Marx,” replies Chambers. “Really, Groucho said that?” Siegel quips. The two of course are fooling around. Argo certainly isn’t. For, this accomplished Ben Affleck-directed film sees both the tragedy

An actor whose career has seen steep ups (blockbusters such as Armageddon) and downs (the crass Gigli), Ben Affleck has also snagged an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (with Matt Damon) for Good Will Hunting, besides directing two Boston-set crime capers, Gone Baby Gone and The Town. Working for the first time from someone else’s script, Affleck’s third feature recounts a little known episode from the Iran hostage crisis of 1979. Towards the end of that turbulent decade

Argo', directed by Ben Affleck, is simply a terrific movie. For his third outing behind the camera, after those excellent Boston-set thrillers Gone Baby Gone and The Town, Affleck chooses this amazing story of one of the most improbable rescue missions in modern history...the kind of story you’d never believe, except that it’s based on true events. Set during the Iranian revolution, the film opens in 1979, when Islamist militants stormed the US Embassy in Tehran

Ben Affleck reinvented himself with his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, proved the first wasn’t a fluke with the stunning The Town. With Argo, he places himself in the pantheon of the best filmmakers. Based on a true story, Argo introduces us to real-life CIA honcho Tony Mendez (Affleck) who was slapped with a mission to rescue six Americans from their captors during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. It wasn’t a cakewalk, and Mendez and his team were briefed

Ben Affleck’s new film, Argo, begins by recounting, in brief, Iran’s troubled history from the 1950s onwards — the election of the democratic Mohammad Mosaddegh; his dethronement; the autocratic reign of Reza Pahlavi, who unleashed an era of torture and fear; and, finally, the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini, following the Revolution. This fact-filled prologue deposits us in the late 1970s, the period the events of this film are set in, and it makes us anticipate

Films based on true stories especially about historical events, some of which very few are familiar with, are told with zest and fearlessness. Ben Affleck’s taut political thriller Argo excels in all counts of the genre it belongs to. Supreme attention to detail and fine writing laced with humour; this terrific film is Affleck’s directorial masterstroke. Based on a true incident, Argo revisits the Iranian Revolution in 1979, when anti-Shah militants stormed the US embassy

A history lesson that'll have you at the edge of your seat, 'Argo' starts off at a flying pace and seldom loses steam. It is smart, often funny and has a terrific nail-biting climax with a hurrah finish. During the 1979 siege of the American embassy in Iran, six employees escape and are taken in by Canadian diplomats. An elaborate plan is hatched by the CIA to rescue the six and is headed by exfiltration expert Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck). To facilitate their safe exit

Some stories are so incredible, they can only be true. Argo is one such story. In the year 1979, the Iranian revolution erupted in an attempt to overthrow the ruling monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty and replace him with religious leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, for a US and UK backed coup that saw him rise to power, and for human rights violations during his years in power. During the revolution, the American embassy in Iran was overthrown