Review of Argo (2012) by Simon H — 18 Jun 2014

Based on the US hostage crisis in Iran, Ben Affleck brings the story of the 'Argo' operation to the big screen with a mixture of historical facts and fictional elements. The Oscar Winning film has a number of things which makes it a fun movie to watch. The sets and environment has been created to bring 1980's to life in both scenes featuring the US and Iran. The cinematography and shots are well presented which gives you both the beautiful side of the foreign country but also the gritty and dark side of the suffering going on. I was also impressed with the use of old archive footage and the flow in transitioning between real and movie footage.

The characters are well played. The escaping Americans look the part of the time period and both John Goodman and Alan Arkin clearly make the most of their characters, whilst parodying the nature of Hollywood and its filmmakers. Whilst certain points in the operation was created for the movie, it doesn't take anything away from the actual story told and helps build up tension. Argo is a movie which adds in enough to make the movie enjoyable but not too much to ruin the true story.