Alien at the Movies

TWA airline pilot Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) is recruited by the CIA to provide clandestine aerial reconnaissance photographs over South America in this biographical crime drama/comedy based on a true story. Before long, Seal finds himself over his head involved in drug smuggling, gun running, & money laundering while dealing with the likes of Pablo Escobar & Manual Noriega, the DEA, the ATF, the FBI, & the State police. Is this story so unbelievable that filmmakers decided it could only be told as a dark comedy? Were parts of this plot fictionalized to paint this character in a better light in order to lure Cruise to the role? Or are all of the real details still classified? Nevertheless, it's entertaining behind the scenes look during those dark days of the Iran-Contra Affair & Sandinistas.

Alien gives it 3 "the gringo who always delivers" stars out of 4.