Cast: It's really Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, and a bunch of TV actors who I love seeing like Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, and Kyle Chandler. Affleck was the only character with a lot of screen time, but he was really good about playing off the other actors instead of demanding the attention.
Plot: I made sure to look up nothing about the actual events of this story out of fear that it would ruin the story for me. It does a great job of explaining the context of the story and I didn't feel at all confused with what was going on. I have to say though, except for some movie-timing editing of events, everything seemed very plausible. Even though I knew the hostages all got out safely in the end* there was a staggering amount of tension throughout, which leads me to may next point...
*Historical fact is not a spoiler,
Elephant in the Room: Didn't Ben Affleck direct this? Yeah, and let's face it, he's a damn good director. This is the third surprisingly good movie that he's directed. Movies based of actual events are tricky to do and he nails it.
To Sum Things Up:
I can't put my finger on it, but this movie was pretty fantastic. It has been advertised as more of a comedy than it is, so I worry that people won't be ready for tense drama that it is most of the time. Beyond that, it fully deserves the Oscar front-runner status that it has and I'll be curious to see how it holds up in the coming months.
Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend
I whole-heartedly agree with your review, but that picture needs a caption: Argofuckyourself!
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