American Made (2017) Review!!!

Synopsis – A pilot lands work for the CIA and as a drug runner in the south during the 1980s.

My Take – While the meaning of cinema in Hollywood is going through a revolutionary change with stream giants taking over blockbusters, Indie films finally receiving the mass audience love they always deserved & with every other actor starring in a superhero film, the whole concept of a movie star has almost ceased to exist and of course then there is Tom Cruise! Personally, I would watch anything that Tom Cruise would appear in, even though over the past decade his films have been a series of hits & misses, for example the rather lackluster sequel Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and the recently released dreadful The Mummy, the never aging star still never ceases to surprise you. Here reteaming up with Doug Liman, after the widely underrated refreshing take on sci-fi/action film Edge of Tomorrow, for an intriguing take on a biopic. Biopics can be a tricky genre, their conventions prone to becoming stale and boring, but luckily, the duo tell Barry Seal’s story with such energy and panache and what an unbelievable story it is! The kind you’d dismiss as too far-fetched if it didn’t come with that ‘based on true events’ tag. Cruise might be back in the aviator shades and soaring at breakneck speeds, but this is not Top Gun 2, while the recently announced long awaited sequel is still two years away, this film in a way allows us all to see what it’s like when Maverick becomes a little naughty in his retirement from flying fighter jets, verbally sparring with Iceman and making out with Charlie. Despite the biopic conventions and structures become a little monotonous and repetitive, the simple but exciting story is without a doubt well-told and really fun to watch.

The story follows Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), a TWA pilot flying commercial airless inside the country in 1978. Despite a good looking yet long-suffering wife named Lucy (Sarah Wright) at home, Barry is disappointed by the lack of excitement in his life, until he is approached by CIA handler Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson), who knows all about his illegal sideline in cigar smuggling and wants him, at the near-height of the Cold War, to fly dangerously over Central America and take reconnaissance photos of the rebels. Of course, big money is naturally involved, and soon Barry quits his job & starts making a name for himself in the CIA. Everything seems to be going according to the plan, until members including a younger Pablo Escobar of the Colombian drug industry come calling him & pressurize into also helping get large amounts of cocaine into America, an offer he can’t refuse because even bigger money is involved. Hopefully the CIA and indeed Lucy and his growing family don’t find out, as the years go by, he’s roped into running guns for Reagan’s secret war in Nicaragua and his smuggling operation grows in size and so does his cockiness. Relocating to Mena, Arkansas, where he’s able to fly from his own airstrip, Seal is soon sandwiched between the cartels and the US government, a pawn in an increasingly dangerous game. With both the government and criminals on his trail, Barry’s actions have consequences reaching all the way to the White House. If you were disappointed with Cruise after watching The Mummy, I can assure you that you will heave a sigh of relief after watching this film. The film’s story is not only engaging but also witty and hilarious. There are hardly any stagnant moments so the probability of you getting bored is very low. The film is a roller-coaster ride of unbelievable action from beginning to end. Liman’s focused direction mixes the drama and humor well. Although the subject matter is serious it is presented in a rousing manner mirroring the high-flying excessive 1980’s period setting. Greed was certainly good for Barry and his cohorts with little of the screenplay feeling drawn out. There’s hardly a dull moment with real-life figures given bouquets and brickbats in gleefully equal doses. In the same manner as you might have thought “that surely can’t be true” when watching Spielberg‘s Catch Me If You Can, this thought constantly flits through your mind. At each turn Seal can’t believe his luck, and Cruise brilliantly portrays the wide-eyed astonishment required. One cool thing about the movie was the very good costumes and sets. It was like we were transformed into the world of the 1970s and early 1980s when the film was set. In addition to the costumes and sets, the film was also having some songs from that period which enhanced the aura of 70s and 80s here. Fair warning to all, Liman and his leading man are totally uninterested in giving a dry history lesson of Seal’s exploits, as the film sees the two Hollywood heavy hitters instead turn their trajectory towards delivering a heightened and often over the top examination of these events and with Liman bringing his Bourne Identity and Edge of Tomorrow expertise with him to the event and with Cruise seemingly having the most fun his had in years, the risk to go for something different other than an awards baiting or dialogue heavy expose has paid off hugely, with the film easily becoming one of the year’s most purely fun and enjoyable rides. Director Liman makes this rather crazy, shambolic and eye-opening film a real roller coaster of emotions, this is even thought the film only has really one to three main characters with a lot of “B characters”.

At heart, this film is a character driven story, obviously it’s based on true events of Barry Seal, but it is set against this adrenaline filled underground drug world. The directing throughout the film is impeccable there is nothing to fault Liman on and it shows he was desperately keen on using as many real planes as possible some of the aircraft shots are really cool. The story of the film is heart pounding from start to finish but as I’ve mentioned it has this down to earth quality to it that can really resonate with audiences because at the end of the day Seal is just doing it for his family. It’s strange because in reality I should not be rooting for Seal he did a lot of bad things for the US government but the qualities and traits of the man just strangely outweigh all that was bad. It is quite unbelievable that this was going on, OK it was before my time so maybe to the older more experience viewer it might not be so shocking, but for me it quite staggering how the US government and the CIA were operating. It is one of the most fascinating stories that I have heard of in quite a while it is really eye opening. Director Doug Liman complements Cruise‘s commanding performance with his highly energized filming style. The camera is rarely steady for more than a beat and its constant zooming, shaking and moving around lends the film an effective faux feel. On the flipside, however, the incessant camera movements are distracting during some of the quieter moments in the film. In one simple conversation scene in a diner, near the beginning of the film, the camera haphazardly changes angles and abruptly zooms in towards the characters as they speak. It’s awkwardly staged and distracts from the dialogue. Luckily the film moves at such a fast clip that Liman‘s hyperactive filming works mostly well but some restraint would have gone a long way during the smaller scenes. While it’s questionable how accurate Gary Spinelli’s script is – with some amalgams of characters Seal met – this is one of the more enjoyable Cruise outings in a while, at least for those who prefer to see him sacrifice his indestructible alpha-male persona. Liman, who turned Cruise into a cowardly soldier for Edge of Tomorrow, delights in further dismantling his image here. At one point, after crash-landing his twin-engine plane in a suburban neighborhood, he pays off an adolescent bystander with a stash of dollar bills, cycling away on the boy’s bike, covered in cocaine. Seal’s wild shenanigans are given an additional frisson of danger by Cruise’s commitment to the flying scenes, including one particularly nerve-jangling cargo-drop technique that the actor did for real while his plane was on autopilot. Those moments pin you to the very edge of your seat, with Liman’s dog-eared style making for a film that still manages to feel somewhat unpredictable, even within a very familiar template. Yes, it might be the kind of story that you’ve seen a million times before, but there’s enough pace and invention to make it worth another go. The only flaw that I see in the film is in terms of the structure and story at times seems very reminiscent to most crime biopics, particularly Scorsese‘s Goodfellas and The Wolf of Wall Street; there are so many similarities, while fans of these films are bound to enjoy elements of this one, rife with innumerable montages and voice-overs, the problem is, once you take a step back and really look at it, there are just so many. Tom Cruise again proves his gift for picking the right material. Here, he nails Seal’s nervy, out-of-his-depth unease, while maintaining a wide-eyed likeability that keeps you rooting for him. Most importantly, it also feels like the first time in ages that Cruise has had the chance to be properly funny. Sarah Wright is beautiful & effortlessly sexy here. Wright‘s portrayal is excellent and it’s a joy to watch her. However, it feels like with a bit more she could have been more than just eye candy and the wife-left-back-home. While Caleb Landry Jones has a nice brief turn as Lucy’s annoying, trouble-making brother (a very similar role to his one in Get Out), it’s all too brief, yet enjoyable. Domhnall Gleeson brings his usual charm & weight to the role. The Medellín cartel members are also likable. On the whole, ‘American Made’ is a thrilling roller-coaster ride of action, comedy & drama making it yet another awesomely fun addition to Cruise‘s filmography.