Review – American Made

American Made is a wild and crazy story that is almost too crazy to be true.  It tells the story of Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), a T.W.A pilot who is recruited by the C.I.A. to fly over South America and bring them intel.  While on his missions, he is approached by a drug cartel and asked to assist them in bringing in cocaine to America.  Barry’s life begins to spiral out of control as he begins to bring in too much money to handle and has to deal with some sketchy dealings and threats from both of his employers.

The movie spans over a decade and shows how Seal started off as a relatively small smuggler and C.I.A. operative and turned into almost a kingpin of sorts playing both sides, yet also helping both sides as well.  The problem with this is that there is a lot that goes on in this movie and at a runtime under two hours, a lot of things get glossed over.  In fact, the entire movie seemed like one giant highlight reel of Seal’s life.  I would have loved to see how Barry’s travels and shenanigans really affected his family life.  I was very interested in the life of Schafter (Domhnall Gleeson), the C.I.A. operative who brings Barry on and acts like big shot in front of Barry, but is a lowly desk jockey at the C.I.A. office.  I wanted more of Barry’s interactions with his cartel, particularly his relationship with Pablo Escobar.  Obviously Barry Seal had a crazy life and that life is incredibly interesting, but it’s not right for a movie, especially one that is just a hair under two hours long.  This story belongs as a series on HBO or Netflix.  It would be able to dive more into the characters and the stories and flesh them out more.  It would be a hell of series and would be a nice sister show to Netflix’s successful Pablo Escobar show, Narcos.

The best part of American Made is Tom Cruise’s stellar performance.  This is the kind of performance Cruise does best and the reason why he is a true movie star.  His endless charisma, swagger, and acting ability are out in full force in this one.  Barry needs to balance working for the C.I.A., working for the cartel, and being a family man, all while not getting caught or killed.  He needs to wear many faces and walk a really tight rope in order for everything to work and an actor of Cruise’s caliber does it with ease.  Cruise carries this movie and even when the story is all over the place, he makes the movie worth watching.

Director Doug Liman continues to show his diversity as a director.  He throws us right into the era with great costumes and settings and an excellent soundtrack.  He does make American Made entertaining for the entire run time.  There is never a dull moment here.  It’s funny, interesting, and has a few scenes of action and suspense.

Led by a great performance by Tom Cruise and some solid direction from Doug Liman, American Made is an entertaining, yet unfulfilling movie due to the lack of depth in the story.  The vast time frame deserves a T.V. series, not a two hour movie, and that is the movies ultimate downfall.

Did you see American Made?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.