I really enjoyed this one. Very tense with perfectly-placed moments of levity. The opening setpiece of the embassy being stormed has great crosscutting and sets the pace well for the rest of the film.
The ensemble cast is enjoyable, and this is the best performance that I've seen Affleck. I could've used a little more time with the hostages in the Canadian house to develop their fears and concerns. Rodrigo Prieto deserves a lot of credit for his way of making things look gritty and imperfect while still visually encapsulating the emotion of each scene.
I agree that the Hollywood navel-gazing early on does tend to drag. But personally, I'm not crazy about movies about making movies, so maybe this worked for others.
There are also perhaps one too many codas, including the credits sequence. And one complication in the pile-on towards the end really sticks out for me as being too silly:
I think they should've altered or got rid of the scene where Arkin and Goodman are trying to get back to the production office. The film crew that is blocking their path is too coincidental, and because Arkin and Goodman don't know they must get back to the phone, they have no agency to overcome this obstacle.
Other than that, it's a timely and very effective thriller, and
Argo deserves the praise.