Out of boredom, I decided to insert the long-ago-rented DVD into my DVD player. I was on a movie drought for days and was dying for entertainment. It suddenly occurred to me that this was the best picture and most likely worth a watch. So, I sat myself back and was filled with expectations.

Well, I have to say the movie started out good. Showing the background knowledge of the Iranian Revolution with a sexy voice for narration. I didn't know the history of the Iranian Revolution so I was considered myself enlightened. The first few scenes showing the Iranians intruding the American embassy was well-directed to say the least. The scenes indeed created tension. In the first scenes, we learned that the American embassy was overwhelmed by the mob and most of them were held captive. However, six Americans managed to escape from under the tunnel. Well, the incidents stirred up a hornet's nest with the related government agencies. The CIA decided to invoke their elite specialist, Tony Mendez, to extract the six trapped Americans, currently hiding in the Canadian embassy. Well, Tony was nothing short of a job addict, distant from his family. After talking on a phone with his estranged son , he stumbled upon an idea to pose as a fake movie producer to Iran to salvage the 6 Americans. To make the entire process authentic, he had to consult with an actual movie designer and producer, from whom he received significant assistance. When everything is set, he headed to Iran to implement his mission. In the end, he successfully rescued the 6 Americans from Iran and he got back with his family in the end.

Surprisingly, I was completely devoid of emotion during the entire process of the movie. Thanks to the dull and less than mundane performance by Ben Affleck who simply could not switch his facial emotions from scene to scene. As for the 6 Americans, they were one- dimensional to an extreme. I didn't feel anything for him, maybe some double takes on the young wife who was relatively pretty compared to others, but nothing more really. They were in danger, okay, shrug...Why should I care? Perfect indication of the failure of the script writers who failed to make the characters fleshed out. As for the plot, it was exceedingly formulaic. Guy goes to Tehran, guy contacts the 6 Americans, guy successfully gets them past Customs, guy reunited with his estranged family. When the plot can be simply concluded into four sentences, you can infer the plot's tremendously shallow. You can't blame Ben though, you can tell he really tried, sometimes too hard, to make this an entertaining story. Sadly, history cannot be argued. The course of the entire rescue was so flat and anti-climatic that even adding the fictional car-chase scene can't save the movie from falling into a huge puddle of predictability. While watching the end credits go by, I felt puzzled about why even bother making such a movie. There was no emotional fluctuations or should I say, no feelings at all after 2 hours. Is it the director's fault or is this movie too good for me to appreciate?

To conclude, this is an extremely over-the-top shallow, empty, with characters flatter than paper. You can't really blame Ben though, he really had extended to the end of his abilities. Point is, fundamentally, the source material was too boring to make it into a film. Whoever considered the source material should really examine his decision in retrospect. In a nutshell, don't believe the hype! This is far from the Best Picture league, no idea why even nominated in the first place. The award should've gone to Life of Pi but I guess Hollywood favors empty movies about American heroism to innovative stories about Indians. Shame on the judges, really. 7/10