Argo completely lived up to my expectations, and I’ve been impatiently waiting for this film to open for 6 months. It’s a fantastic movie, clearly one of the best this year, and it should not be missed on the big screen.

The high point of Argo, for me, was the opening depiction of the sacking of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. It’s lovely filmmaking, beautifully capturing the emotions and ominous uncertainty of the moment, and the entire sequence is paced damn near flawlessly. It was in this initial sequence where I first realized, to my delight, that Ben Afleck (whether consciously or not) has picked up some of William Friedken’s marvelous old camera techniques – like Friedkan, he makes everything look spontaneous and thrilling through his use of camera motion, zoom, and exquisite, unexpected angles. The shot through the moving car window of the guy hanging from the crane was classic Friedken. You really have to hand it to Affleck. In an era of unsurpassed laziness in film makers, he is keeping some of the classic art of filmmaking alive, and it really sets him and his films apart.

I might also point out that it was fucking ballsy as hell for Affleck to begin the film with narration from the Iranian point of view, explaining how the U.S. removed their democratically elected leader (Mosaddegh) in 1953, and installed the delightful fellow we know as “The Shah,” and describing the terrors The Shah brought on the people of Iran. How many filmmakers would have the courage to do that? Especially since I don’t think this information was essential to the telling of this particular story.

But it’s not just the opening sequence that shines. The film is tense and interesting all the way through. It has a lot of ground to cover, and it manages to do this while keeping the story tight and blending disparate elements effectively. The pace of the film never fails and the overall length of the film feels perfectly judged. Performances are solid across the board. Unlike most critics, I don’t have a problem with Ben Affleck the actor, and I suspect their tendency to denigrate his acting in light of his directing boils down to simple jealousy – jealousy that a pretty boy like Affleck can make films this good, put himself in them as the star, and then give a really good performance (and make himself look fantastic on screen, I might add.) It defies the laws of mainstream films, and they simply can’t stand it. I mean, Affleck is better in Argo (and in The Town) than George Clooney was in The Descendants, and they gave Clooney a freaking Oscar nomination!

So we’ve established that Argo is really good. But just how good is it? My initial feeling is that as wonderful as it is, it does not strike me as a timeless classic. For example, when I left the theater after watching Fair Game two years ago, I literally could not wait to see it again, it was so profoundly impressive; I’m not sure I will need to see Argo again, frankly. The story is broad and interesting, but it is not particularly deep. It’s an action film with a very linear plot, and limited time available for dialog, complex scene structure, or character development. (For example, Affleck’s character is pretty much a mystery man the entire movie, and the six stranded Americans come across as one simplistic block, never really emerging as independent personalities.) These lacking elements do not really hurt your enjoyment of the film, but it’s difficult for a film to be truly great without these fundamental building blocks.

To me, Argo compares favorably to The French Connection, another exciting action film based on a true story, with a fairly linear plot, plenty of suspense and thrilling action, limited dialog, and minimal character development. I think Argo is a bit better than The French Connection, because it’s a more interesting story that is more coherently told, it has considerably more dialog, and it has a much more entertaining spectrum of characters. Atmospherically I think The French Connection might have an edge (though not by much,) and one can argue that the aesthetic quality of the various chase scenes in The French Connection has never been equaled. But my point is that neither of these films can hold a candle to truly great films in this genera like Costa-Gavras’ Missing, for example, or Sidney Lumet’s All the President’s Men, or even a more modern classic like Fair Game.

Affleck made a wonderful film with the script he was working with. Could Argo have been truly great with a better script? I’m not sure the source material is deep enough to support true greatness, and any attempts to add more texture to certain parts might have disrupted the pacing of the movie and made it overly long. In the end I think Argo is perfect just as is it: an atmospheric, interesting, and thrilling action movie. Let’s leave it at that, and honor it as one of the year’s best films and more proof of Ben Affleck’s continually emerging skill and vision as a director.

Again, don’t miss it while it’s in theaters!