...and it was effing great! (By the way, read no more if you don't like spoilers.)
CIA 'exfil' agent, Tony Mendez, sets up a fake movie and production studio to smuggle out six Americans hiding in the Canadian Embassy in Iran. And Ben Affleck nails it. It's nothing short of impressive the way he's reconstructed the movie from actual photographs taken in 1979 when Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US Embassy. As an actor, there were no pretentious moments where he's the dashing agent come to the rescue. Most of the time he's frustrated, and desperately trying to help the six Americans out of the situation alive. There's no glamour, no heroics, just realistic acting.
In fact, the whole movie is characterized by a lack of sensationalism. What makes it so believable (of course, it is based on a true story culled from declassified CIA files) is that although the idea is preposterously movie-like, the actual implementation of that idea is so far from being theatrical, that it's almost ordinary. There is no 'villain' who is on the trail of the Americans and can anticipate all their moves, none of the six Americans are action heroes or super smart, and Ben Affleck does not hog the screen. I thought that it was more gripping for being so subtle and natural.
Do watch. It's hands-down one of the best movies I've seen.
CIA 'exfil' agent, Tony Mendez, sets up a fake movie and production studio to smuggle out six Americans hiding in the Canadian Embassy in Iran. And Ben Affleck nails it. It's nothing short of impressive the way he's reconstructed the movie from actual photographs taken in 1979 when Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US Embassy. As an actor, there were no pretentious moments where he's the dashing agent come to the rescue. Most of the time he's frustrated, and desperately trying to help the six Americans out of the situation alive. There's no glamour, no heroics, just realistic acting.
In fact, the whole movie is characterized by a lack of sensationalism. What makes it so believable (of course, it is based on a true story culled from declassified CIA files) is that although the idea is preposterously movie-like, the actual implementation of that idea is so far from being theatrical, that it's almost ordinary. There is no 'villain' who is on the trail of the Americans and can anticipate all their moves, none of the six Americans are action heroes or super smart, and Ben Affleck does not hog the screen. I thought that it was more gripping for being so subtle and natural.
Do watch. It's hands-down one of the best movies I've seen.
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