Review of American Made (2017) by Lane Z — 04 Jan 2018

Tom Cruise puts forth a spirited, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants effort in his portrayal of Barry Seal, a TWA pilot turned drug smuggler and CIA reconnaissance pilot during the Cartel drug wars of the 1970s and early 1980s. The film is as bumpy and as all over the place as a turbulent flight in a thunderstorm, but it still offers good entertainment even if it doesn't get as deep as some of the other films we associate in the same category.

Throughout the two-hour run time, it felt like we barely grazed the surface of who Barry Seal really was outside of a good pilot. A great pilot even. Cruise is so cavalier with his portrayal, it felt like there may have been some bigger demons lying underneath the reason for it all. The reason for this skimming of his character lies with the direction from Doug Liman, who worked with Cruise on Edge of Tomorrow. Liman keeps us in the air almost as long as he does on the ground, and while it offers us the chance to bounce around the equator from America to South America to Central America and back again, we rarely get any down time to settle into an environment. The movie was at its best when we were able to take a minute to relax with the characters interacting, like when Barry first flies to Medellin to make his first run with the infant Cartel.

As is the status of a Tom Cruise movie, Cruise soaks up nearly every scene and line in the film. If he's not in the scene, it's probably not worth watching. Domhnall Gleeson isn't as bad as I've seen him portraying an American as the shifty CIA agent and Sarah Wright doesn't get much to do outside of stand around and look pretty.

This incredibly true story felt like a whirlwind when told in just the frame of two hours. What ended up being nearly a decade of work in real life instead felt crammed because of the constrained time of the film, the fast-paced time shifts, and the kinetic acting of everyone involved. That's not to say it was energetic and entertaining for both the cast and the audience. I'm not saying we needed a Scorsese-like, three-hour romp into every single character, but slowing down just a little may have elevated this to something special.