Review of American Made (2017) by Patrick L — 20 Oct 2017

"Doug Liman's "American Made" won me over with it's witty sense of humor, it's scathing indictment on government corruption, it's historical accuracy and Tom Cruise's energetic performance".

Movie Review: American Made.

Date Viewed: September 30 2017.

Directed By Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow, Go, Swingers, Jumper and The Wall).

Written By Gary Spinelli.

Starring: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Alejandro Edda, Mauicio Mejia, Jayma Mays, Jesse Plemons, Caleb Landry Jones, Lola Kirke, Frank Licari, Jed Rees, Connor Trinneer and Robert P. Farrior.

He maybe 55 years old but Tom Cruise still knows how to fly an aircraft. Even though this film centers around a commercial pilot, "American Made" is not a sequel to "Top Gun", it revolves around Barry Seal (Cruise), a TWA pilot who gets contacted by the CIA to do some dirty business. Cruise gives his best performance in over a decade and he's the main reason to see this film. Cruise reunites with his "Edge of Tomorrow" director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Go, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Jumper, Swingers and The Wall) for a true story that's actually based on a true lie. In the late 70s and early 80s, Barry Seal flew missions for the CIA and he became a drug smuggler for the Medellin Cartel which was led by Pablo Escobar (Mauicio Mejia).

The Central Intelligence Agency's dirty deeds involved the Clintons, Vice President George H.W. Bush and President Reagan and the CIA's drug smuggling operation devolved into the Iran-Contra scandal which almost brought down the Reagan White House. "American Made" won me over with it's witty sense of humor, it's scathing indictment on government corruption, it's historical accuracy and Tom Cruise's energetic performance. This story wasn't Fake News, it really happened. As I mentioned before, "American Made" centers around Barry Seal, he was just a commercial airline pilot until he got approached by the CIA. Case officer Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson) asks Seal if he can do reconnaissance missions for the CIA over Central America and then deliver tons of cocaine to Louisiana on his return flight to the homeland.

His new piloting job may deliver big money to him and his family but Barry Seal's career change also requires him to lie to his wife, Lucy (Sarah Wright). Thanks to his secret CIA gig, Seal moves his family to a small Arkansas town known as Mena where it's finances are totally in the toilet. Seal's job eventually gets very serious when he gets approached by two drug runners, Escobar and Jorge Ochoa (Alejandro Edda). They would like for Seal to deliver their drug packages on his return trips to the United States and in return they will pay him $2000 per kilo. The CIA turns a blind eye on the drug smuggling and Schafer wants Seal to do another assignment, deliver guns to the Contras. This should be easy as 123 but there's just one problem, the Contras are more into drugs than guns so Seal creates an elaborate scam to fix all that. Through his piloting gig, Seal was able to launder in so much money and he was also kind enough to revitalize the town and open a lot of bank and savings accounts. Seal brought in so much money, he literally runs out of places to put it all.

The screenplay by Gary Spinelli does follow the "Goodfellas" and "Wolf of Wall Street" formula and it does drag down at times but director Liman has crafted a solid and very entertaining film. Tom Cruise is on the top of his acting game here and his superb performance makes us forget about his hopelessly lost turn in "The Mummy" from last summer. Cruise maybe in action star mode again but this film is more of a dark comedy than it is a crime thriller. "American Made" does have thriller components in it but it also has it's share of laugh-out-loud funny moments. I also want to give a shout-out to Sarah Wright, she maybe the usual hot squeeze for Cruise but she's also a hard-ass and doesn't trust her husband because of his gig at the CIA. Domhnall Gleeson is also really good as the CIA guy who recruits Barry Seal and he and Tom Cruise have nice chemistry together. Whatever your opinion on the CIA might be, you know in your heart that they've done a lot of shitty stuff.

"American Made" is a breezy good time at the movies and Tom Cruise shows again what a palpable movie star he can be.