Argo

Having a screenwriting background and being overly nitpicky, I don't often see a film without obvious and distracting holes. From a story standpoint, Ben Affleck's "Argo" has none, gaping or otherwise. Another thriller, "Zero Dark Thirty," may be the only other film I saw this year in which a story gap didn't jolt me from being fully immersed. Though "ZD30" is certainly one of the best films of the year, it's nowhere near as enjoyable as "Argo." Both thrillers are taut, timely, and deal in matters of perplexing gray. But "Argo" is also subtly balanced, with comic relief laced deftly throughout, luring you in with laughs, shedding just enough light to make the dark more glaringly scary. Because of this, the tension is ratcheted up nice and slow, and the result is captivating. The end of the film was the first time in two hours I realized I was actually sitting in a theater. Even when it's done, "Argo" lingers, and I've been thinking about 1979 ever since, wondering how come it looks so much like today.

A dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.
Director:
Ben Affleck

Writers:
Chris Terrio (screenplay), Joshuah Bearman(article)

Stars:
Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston and John Goodman