Review of American Made (2017) by John M — 18 Oct 2017

The Tom Cruise that I like. So this is the biographical story of the pilot Barry Seal (Cruise). He has a pretty good small time gig running Cuban cigars around customs, but the FBI has been monitoring his activity and has bigger plans for in store for him.

It isn't long before he is running drugs, intelligence and Contra soldiers back and forth between the United States and Central/South America. Now Tom Cruise can be hit or miss for me. For every stupendous Edge of Tomorrow, there is a generic Knight and Day, and I am never abundantly sure what I am going to get with him, even with me keeping a constant ear out for new release movie reviews.

This is definitely one of his more inspired performances, and I had a blast watching this. This is one of the best real life crime movies in recent memory, and the only one I can actively think of that is better is The Wolf of Wall Street.

The biggest part of what makes this work so well is the fun factor. This movie is a good time, and the fact that it is based on real life events only adds to the wow factor; much like Pain & Gain, this story is so crazy, it would be more believable if it WASN'T true.

Cruise is having a great time, and it is almost like he is doing a Matthew McConaughey impression with this role here. Also, his smile doesn't get him a free pass like it usually does, and if he is going to stand a chance of survival, he's going to have to use his skills and talents to squirm himself out of trouble.

He gets himself so far over his head, it's kind of hard to see a good ending to his story. American Made moves very quickly and is excellently paced. It is edited together proficiently well, and it makes you understand the appeal of the lifestyle with plenty of excess and lavishness.

There are plenty of exotic locations, and there is always something happening that makes you want to be this guy, even though he gets himself in such hot water that you would want to take it back immediately.

It is fun to watch play out, and I do not have any major complaints to log against it.