I can say this much: where Ben Affleck lacks in acting chops, he more than makes up for it in his efforts behind the camera. Starting with Good Will Hunting, we discovered that Affleck’s contributions to screenplay writing were strong (he and Matt Damon took the Academy Award home to prove it). With Gone, Baby, Gone, he managed to further his reputation as a talented screenwriter, and also establish himself as a director who takes an honest, gritty, and of course, humorous approach to getting to the heart of the matter. Affleck chooses poignant stories that invariably tug at the heart strings—even if he is tackling subjects like children who get abducted for cash from their drug-addicted mothers or pathological bank robbers—and creates characters that you will feel empathy for, whether you like it or not. He makes you rethink what you believe to be right or wrong, and takes you on a twisted ride while doing it. Though this month’s ARGO didn’t follow his M.O. to a tee, like his other off camera credits, it did not disappoint.

ARGO begins by supplying you with information regarding the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution, leading up to the invasion of the United States embassy and subsequent holding of 52 American diplomats. As the hostage takeover is occurring, six other diplomats manage to evade capture and eventually find sanctuary in the home of the Canadian Ambassador. When the movie returns state-side, the country is in disarray over the captives and the government is determined to avert further crisis. The CIA decides to bring in their best “ex-fil” guy (Tony Mendez, Affleck) to work with the Department of State, who has tasked itself with getting the six escapees out of Iran. They work through several plans (some of them pretty funny) to carry out, but it is only when Mendez is watching Planet of the Apes while talking to his son on the phone that he comes up with what will become the basis for the flick: pretend that the six hostages are a film crew scouting locations for a science fiction film with a “Middle Eastern” feel. In order to make the scheme look completely legitimate, Mendez enlists Hollywood big-wigs like make-up artist John Chambers (John Goodman) and Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) to help him form a fake production company, choose a script, and create memorabilia. He then makes his way to Iran determined to see his plan through and get the detainees home.

Anyone interested in doing follow-up reading regarding ARGO and the events that took place will recognize that the movie was based loosely on the true shared efforts of the American and Canadian governments to rescue the six captives, a fact that Affleck has received some slack for. I also found myself slightly disturbed by the [characteristically] biased portrayal of Middle Eastern people and our government’s constant hero-complex reactions to their actions. But, I am not a political commentator and that is not why you’re reading this (if you still are). So, despite Affleck + Team’s liberal use of artistic license, there are two facets of the film that cannot be ignored:

#1) The Cast- in addition to top billers like Goodman and Arkin, you also have people like Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Tate Donovan (Damages), Victor Garber (Damages), and Chris Messina (Damages) [Notice the pattern of my choice of reference, it’s no mistake] who cater to their roles really well (comically and dramatically).

#2) The Look- the design team did an amazing job of not only taking us back to 1979 through clothing, cars, and buildings, but also of recreating the scenes of the revolution to give the story realistic effect (many of the shots were based on real images from that time).

If you come away with anything, it is that unlike most of the sad excuses for movies that are released on a constant basis, ARGO truly is worth seeing. Affleck done good, again.