This film is a fictional account about the hostage crisis in Iran in 1979-1980 in which several Americans were held captive while six of them were hidden in the Canadian Embassy before eventually escaping. Director Ben Affleck also plays the main character Tony Mendez, a CIA agent who arrives in Tehran under a different identity in order to help the six Americans escape.

Affleck's directing is superb in that he achieves the near-impossible: creating edge-of-your-seat tension and suspense in a story where the audience already knows how the story will end. He also does a great job in evoking details of the time period with styles and events of the time (not to mention the absurdity of allowing smoking on airplanes back then). The "time travel" worked so well that I was even able to recall what was happening in my life at that time.

The script has troubles with its inaccuracies. While the Canadian efforts in the operation are well portrayed, they are seriously minimized from a historical perspective. Also, there are unfair inaccuracies of the roles of New Zealand and Great Britain during the beginning of the crisis.

Despite these major script troubles, this is truly a victory for the director who raises the film to a higher level.