Argo (2012) Review
Ben Affleck directed and starred. The film adapts the historical events of the 1980 Canadian Caper, when six American diplomats escaped the Iranian hostage crisis through a CIA operation involving a fake Hollywood production.
Director: Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck won a screenwriting Oscar at twenty-five for Good Will Hunting, spent a decade as a tabloid fixture and a punchline, and then directed Gone Baby Gone, which nobody expected to be good. It is very good.
The Town and Argo followed, and Argo won Best Picture. The three films share a preference for procedure, ensemble casting over star power, and a Boston geography he actually knows.
He is a better director of others than of himself, and the performances he gets from Amy Ryan, Jeremy Renner and Alan Arkin are the evidence.
