Go to Argo [VIDEO, REVIEW]

We saw Argo and the movie more than lived up to the setup from the trailer. My penchant for espionage flicks aside, this is a fabulous thriller. Much of the excitement comes from the fact that it is based on a true story. It is an unbelievably frightening, harrowing and thrilling true story.

Nowadays, the Iranian government isn't a big fan of America. Turns out this is nothing new, and tensions may have been even higher in the late 70's. In 1979, an Iranian mob stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. They took all of the survivors hostage, except 6 that escaped to the residence of the Canadian Ambassador.

It took awhile for the Iranians to realize that they were missing 6 captives, but once they did, the search was on, and time was ticking down.

Argo is the story of a dedicated CIA operative, a Hollywood producer who helped the CIA on occasion, and another producer that was enlisted to help extricate the 6 from the dangerous territory by staging a fake film scouting trip to make a fake film, 'Argo'.

Titillation ensues. The edge of my seat wasn't big enough, I may as well have fallen off. Thrills and chills abound. Besides crafting a perfect suspense thriller, the movie did two other very notable things.

It really made me feel the tension in the era. I was barely old enough to be aware of what was happening back then, but through this film, I was able to gain a further understanding of what many have to fear from that part of the world.

Two characters in the drama, Lester Siegel played by Alan Arkin and John Chambers played by John Goodman, really showed what it is to be a selfless patriot. They were not paid. They weren't even recognized, and in fact they couldn't tell anyone about their heroic deeds. Knowing that 6 Americans they had never met, and probably would never meet, were in trouble, they put their lives on hold, risked alienating contacts and possibly damaging their careers in order to take part in a scheme that had very little chance of success. It was like, "That idea is crazy, it will never work, it's stupid. That's the best we got? I'm in." Touching.

I don't have enough thumbs to put up for this one. Must see, for sure.