Day 47 - American Made


Day 47              American Made [2017]
                          
Screenplay                    Gary Spinelli
Director                         Doug Liman
Cinematography            César Charlone
Music                            Christophe Beck
Leads                             Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Jesse Plemons, Caleb Landry Jones
Production                      Cross Creek Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Quadrant Pictures, Vendian Entertainment

IMDb                                7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes                87%

You never know quite what you are going to get with Tom Cruise. His roles have all seemed the same since his incredible performance in Tropic Thunder. He’s an action star, it’s all stunts and guns and explosions, which is fun but gets dull fast. American Made is still action-packed, but it’s certainly not dull. Cruise plays Barry Seal, a commercial pilot who becomes a recon pilot for the CIA, a drug runner for the Medellin Cartel and finally is made to fly guns to the Nicaraguan Contras (part of the Iran-Contra Affair). It’s lightly based on a true story and Cruise plays the nutty Southerner Seal convincingly. The film is written well as it is not a biopic of Seal but rather a Hollywood depiction of real events. It’s a great sound track too as it mostly uses classic songs from the 70s. I’ll level with you and say that this film could have delved deeper into Barry Seal’s life. It’s such an interesting story, yet all we get is Cruise’s trademark grin, some feel-good music and a whole lot of cash flashed at us. It’s more Mr Nice, than it is Blow. We are only exposed to the fun (except for the end of the film of course..) and for that reason I think they missed a trick. However, it doesn’t proclaim to be anything more than an action-packed black comedy, and for that I enjoyed it.

Acting                             3 / 4
Writing                         2.5 / 4
Cinematography              3 / 4
Music                           3.5 / 4
HWF rating             3.5 / 4