Movie Review: Argo

Argo was amazing. The story itself was a fascinating tale of real life danger and intrigue and then Ben Affleck got his hands on it and Hollywood-ized it in a good way.

The first act was a little unstable for me. The film jumped between the heaviness and direness of the situation these people were in overseas with the lightness and joking of Affleck's character coming up with the movie location scouting idea and teaming up with John Goodman and Alan Arkin to come up with a script and a studio and a press party. Don't get me wrong, these scenes were some of the funniest in the movie but you almost felt bad laughing because of what else was going on.

Once everything was set and the plan was in place the movie just dripped with suspense. Everyone knows what happened to the people so it's simply amazing that Affleck was able to pull off keeping the audience on the edge of their seats and their hands gripping the armrests. Once it ended I had to consciously relax my body again because it was that intense. I think this Affleck kid has a real future in the business.

Justice League ≠ The Avengers

Rumor has it Warner Bros. has reached out to Ben Affleck to direct their Justice League movie. While I always have a place in my heart for our local boy, why would Affleck be their top choice? He has directed a total of 2 films (Gone Baby Gone, The Town) and although they were both awesome, he doesn’t come to mind as someone who can handle a big action movie spectacle like this with all the pressures of fanboys and summer blockbuster status on his shoulders. Needless to say, he’s no Joss Whedon. And he’s not even DC… Daredevil is a Marvel character.

That brings up another point: the Justice League is not the Avengers. Marvel and DC could not be more different in how they write their comics. The Marvel characters were actively intertwined in each other’s tales while the DC characters seemingly lived independently of each other. Hell, Marvel even set up all their movies from Iron Man on to lead into the Avengers film. What has DC done?

In addition to not having any overlap in their universe, DC also hasn’t carried over very well to film. Batman of course has been the tentpole but what after that? They’re rebooting Superman for a second time in 6 years. They tried to make Wonder Woman into a TV series with Adrianne Palicki (it didn’t air a single episode). Green Lantern ended Ryan Reynolds career. Aquaman and the Flash haven’t even seen the light of day. This isn’t exactly a group people care about. Plus, the fact that Christian Bale has hung up his Batsuit is the final nail in the coffin. I don’t see how this movie gets made and I certainly don’t see how it succeeds commercially.