Affleck scores with Argo

There’s no need to find a film this October that will get your heart pumping and mind churning. Argo, which stars and is directed by Ben Affleck, is an intense visual experience that is both thrilling and educational.

Argo is based on the actual events that occurred during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis of the U.S. Embassy where 52 hostages were taken, but six managed to escape and hide out at the home of the Canadian Ambassador. Affleck plays Tony Mendez, a CIA operative who must risk it all and bring the six U.S. Diplomats back home.

It’s a no-holds-barred description of the tension of the Iranian people and the efforts of the U.S and Canada to rescue these diplomats. Mendez comes up with a strange but clever idea to make a fake movie and disguise the diplomats as the film crew to escape the hostile environment.

The movie feels like it’s drifting off the plot when filmmakers Lester Siegal (played by Alan Arkin) and John Chambers (played by John Goodman) help Mendez with the script, cast and promotion of the fake film, which is called Argo as well. But these duller moments are short-lived when graphic scenes of the takeover remind viewers of what is actually taking place.

Argo never gets boring as the diplomats get more nervous and scared about their position and their job of fitting into the made-up character, they must be, to get past security in the streets and in the airport. The setting of the film is very dark and arguably very unpredictable for those who don’t know the actual story.

Mendez seems married to his job with all the beer cans and fast food lying around his apartment. However, Mendez takes his job very seriously and has succeeded with this type of rescue work in other attempts.

Affleck does a great job of directing with detail and storytelling. This one should top his previous directed good films such as Gone Baby Gone (2007) and The Town (2010). The film gets more intense as it goes along, and the ending closes with a very dramatic and nerve-wracking finale.

Argo succeeds in the thrill and suspense in a different but beautiful fashion. Argo finds a balance of great story telling and visual lessons about the Iranian revolution and the rescue mission itself.