ARGO: Affleck’s Political Thriller for Those Unthrilled by Politics

Stealing the spotlight this award season with just his third directing debut, actor and up-and-coming director Ben Affleck’s political thriller, Argo, an exceptionally well-done film, thrusts the audience into a dramatization of the actual 1979 CIA-Canadian covert operation to extract six American diplomatic personnel, disguised as a film crew, out of revolutionary Iran.

Among other attention-grabbing cast members, from John Goodman (The Artist) to Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), casting himself as the protagonist, the undeterred and steadfast CIA operative, Tony Mendez, Affleck skillfully exemplifies the conflict, and the nerve, that was so very present throughout the story line, as well as the do-or-die pressure Mendez was to operate under.

From the obvious lengths to which were endured to bring about the heavy reality of the situation, while simultaneously relieve anxieties with subtle bursts of humor and color through an expert script written by Screenwriter, Chris Terrio, it would be only natural for such a work of success to be so captivating and outstanding in the film community.

“Nailing the quickening pace, the wayward humor, the nerve-frying suspense,” (Peter Travers, Rollingstone) it does not come as a surprise that this perfect medley has drawn immense attention, bringing about several awards, nominations and words of praise across the population.

With such a repertoire of awards won from the Critics Choice Awards Best Picture and Best Director, British Academy Film Awards Best Film, 70th Golden Globe Awards Best Director (Affleck) and Best Motion Picture – Drama, and seven other award nominations pending in the soon-to-be-aired 85th Academy Awards, Argo has quickly become one of the most accomplished films of the year, proving Ben Affleck as more than an actor, but also a “filmmaker of astonishing assurance and depth.” (Ann Hornaday, Washington Post)