American Made Let S Give This A Shot

Director Doug Liman’s second movie of 2017, American Made, is a largely dull project, one that coasts by on the charisma of Tom Cruise and a you-can’t-believe-this-is-technically-a-real-story factor. Of course, the events aren’t identical to real life. It’s “based on a true story,” which gives movies based on reality to be liberal with the facts. Personally, I’m fine with that. If they’re not documentaries, why should we care if they’re historically accurate. Real life provides good narratives, but in theory screenwriters should be able to think up better ones. Cruise plays Barry Seal, a pilot married to Lucy (Sarah Wright) who has a side job smuggling Cuban cigars. He gets hired early on by a CIA agent (Domhnall Gleeson) to leave the airline business and start doing reconnaissance missions, flying over South America and taking pictures of insurgents. That’s not a lucrative business, so he eventually takes a side job smuggling cocaine. Then guns. Then people. And not always for the “bad guys.” He bounces back and forth between working for drug dealers and the cartel and various government agencies. If there’s one novel aspect to American Made, it’s this. That’s less of a problem if we’re rooting for our protagonist. This is where American Made‘s next big issue is. Apart from being played by Tom Cruise – which, admittedly, makes up for a decent amount – Seal is, to be blunt, a stupid jerk. An early scene showcases the latter attribute – he causes turbulence on an overnight flight that wakes everyone up just for the laughs. And he’s not smart, either. He just goes along with pretty much what everyone says in order to avoid trouble. We’re cheering for him why, exactly? American Made is also really ugly. It’s been filmed with lots of handheld and close-up shots, with lots of grain to emulate both the time period – the late ’70s and early ’80s – and guerrilla filmmaking. It’s displeasing to the eye, and not as immersive as one might hope. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a choice that didn’t pay off. At least it’s not edited like a Bourne movie. Bottom Line: American Made is a dull and ugly rise-and-fall story. Recommendation: Only hardcore Tom Cruise fans need to see American Made. [rating=2]