Argo

Un chef-d’œuvre de réalisation signé Ben Affleck. Peu de temps après The Town, voici que je regarde son film à ce jour le mieux coté et celui-ci me satisfait encore plus. Bien que je ne sois pas friand de tout ce que les Américains ont fait et font encore dans le monde, cette action non violente visant à sauver cinq diplomates ordinaires et une civile m’a fait serrer les poings et retenir ma respiration vers la fin, même si je savais comment le tout allait se terminer. Il y avait bien sûr des lourdeurs à l’américaine, mais il n’empêche qu’Argo a laissé en moi une impression forte ainsi qu’un profond désir d’élargir ma conscience historique autour de la révolution iranienne. J’ai d’ailleurs déjà jeté un coup d’œil à quelques publications sympas traitant de l’Iran sur des sites de livres. (26/12/2013)

Le sujet sérieux d’Américains en danger de mort, bloqués en Iran, est allégé avec tact par une approche hollywoodienne ludique. La réalisation est joliment maîtrisée ; Ben Affleck mûrit. Les scènes cliché du dernier tiers (les billets obtenus au dernier moment ; la course pour attraper l’avion) ne reflètent sans doute pas les événements de manière fidèle, mais elles fonctionnent bien dans le concept du film où un problème politique de la vie réelle est résolu à la dernière minute par un héroïsme hollywoodien digne d’une bande dessinée. Les visuels sont soignés, la distribution réjouit et l’ambiance de l’époque est bien retranscrite. Et la musique d’Alexandre Desplat est sublime. (07/02/2013)

Not the event of the season - American critics and audiences must logically be enthusiastic about a film that is not foolishly simplistic, but at the same time is able to maintain popular schemes and a certain "power-film" patriotism. From my point of view, I appreciate the clever and functional montages (reading the Argo screenplay / drastic scenes from Iran - the heist parallel "escape planning / pursuit procedure"), the famous self-defeating humor of the Hollywood storyline and the escape sequence shot exclusively in detail and semi-details - retro styling and camera movement by Rodrigo Prieta are a pleasure in and of themselves. However, after a "problematic" political introduction, Argo finally capitulates to the tried-and-true schemes, but this does not degrade the fact that Ben Affleck made another uniquely-crafted film, which I "purely enjoyed". (24/11/2012)

Ben Affleck really is the man. I must admit that I never believed that he could be the leading representative of decent and intelligent Hollywood of this day and age, but every new movie he makes is such a smash hit that my brain is having a hard time coping with such amounts of quality. Argo may not be a five-star smash hit and that’s only because it drags on a bit at the beginning and it takes a while for the movie to finally get to the action. But once the action starts, which is actually the entire second part of the movie, your heart will stop beating with all the suspense the same way it did for me. The story itself is absolutely amazing and interesting and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Argo wins the Oscar for Best Picture. It has all the traditional Oscar-winning qualities, so we will see. For me, this was a job really well done about a certain chapter of CIA and Hollywood history, which couldn’t have been filmed any better. Yeah and Ben Affleck was absolutely perfect in his role. (24/02/2013)

Ben Affleck confirms his quality as a director. This time, and based on the responses from abroad, he hit the bullseye of the taste of the American public and critics, and it’s no wonder. Argo is a decent period piece, a thriller, a drama, has a pinch of filmmaking comedy, it’s based on real events and you end up rooting for the clever and nice Americans. And from a genre perspective, it can be viewed without any politics. Personally, however, it didn’t captivate me, maybe because the climax relies too much on coincidences, and though the tension escalates nicely, the overall pleasant realistic feeling is lost. But overall, it’s your typical well made four star film, and a nice scapegoat for anti-American posers. (30/11/2012)