Argo is a good movie, but it is a question whether or not Argo harbors anything special.

This is a movie about a Canado-American mission to exfiltrate 6 US embassy workers during the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979. It is a somewhat original subject matter, but there has already been a direct-to-TV movie about it.

The performances are good but none stand out, except perhaps for John Goodman who appears in the movie only for a short time. The dialogue is solid too and has a few humorous phrases, but not brilliant in any particular way.

Cinematography is also good. The makers nail the late 70s aesthetic, like haircuts and glasses and cars.

The camera work is solid and it seems designed to increase the feeling that the viewer is there, with a lot of close ups and slight shaking caused by camera being held in the hands a lot. Shots of things quickly passing by make you feel anxious like one of the hiding embassy workers. It successfully creates the tension, which is what this movie is all about.

The same tension is unfortunately damaged for anyone who knows the history of the Iranian hostage crisis and therefore knows how the movie ends. There is a part of the movie when the whole operation is called off. Oh no! How will they ever?..Oh, right...

It is like the movies invites viewers who are politically interested enough to watch a political thriller like this one but not interested enough to have checked the history of the event. It would be better if these story was completely fictional so that the tension could have remained undisturbed by reality.

This is ironic because the movie takes a number of freedoms with the actual story, like giving most of the credit to the Americans for the mission, which actually makes the movie part fiction. Should have gone all the way...

Having said that, it is a testament to this movie's quality that the movie still manages to make the story interesting and tense enough.

The biggest surprise of this film is perhaps that such a good movie could be directed and acted by Ben Affleck, who had left a bad impression in some people's minds with some of his previous acting jobs, but this surprise alone does not merit a great movie.

Argo is then a fairly tense, well paced and well directed film. That is all.