American Made

American Made (2017)

86% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 170 reviews)

Runtime: 115 minutes

Directed by: Doug Liman

Starring: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Jesse Plemons, Caleb Landry Jones

From: Universal

I can't say this was great but it was still pretty good, as I explain below:

NOTE: People outside the United States may be surprised to hear this, but we're just getting the movie now; I am not sure why it was released elsewhere around the world early this month, although Universal is certainly glad they did not have to compete with It right away.

I'll admit a few things before I start talking about the movie itself. Before I even left to go see this, I had heard that the movie was about as much fiction as fact, and I know that some things have to be changed when making something “based on a true story” and doing things like combining several different people into one character makes things simpler. But I imagine I'd be more offended if I knew more about Barry Seal aside from the basics. What I hear, the basics are pretty much the only accurate facts that are presented. I am a history nerd so I prefer authenticity and I probably would be greatly interested in and fascinated by Seal's real life story; thankfully there are several books out there about him. Then, I did not have the best audience experience while watching this; I wish it would have been a de facto private screening as it would have meant me not having to turn around too often to stare daggers at more than one group of people who were acting like cretins and Troglodytes; I don't even need to elaborate on what I am referring to.

All that said, I can still say this was pretty good and give it a favorable rating. I don't want to say much about the plot for those who don't know “the deets” (as those on the street like to say) except to say that Seal was a talented American pilot who became involved with the federal government, who was doing some shady and definitely illegal things that involved Pablo Escobar, running drugs & guns, and a major late 80's scandal.

The movie is pretty slick and extravagant in how the story is presented; I dare not spoil what I am referring to. It was just not what I was quite expecting. Maybe at times it's too slick but at least it was informative in explaining the actual facts to an audience that may have no clue to the shocking things that the United States government did back then... and to be honest, still likely do now. The movie also has plenty of comedic moments; it tries to emulate some great movies and it doesn't rise to those heights. Even then, as I enjoy retro things I was amused by this late 70's/most of the 80's tale. As an aside, I'll presume that Barry's wife wasn't in real like an annoying foul-mouthed harpy like she was portrayed here; it wasn't the actress playing her, it was how the character was written.

A big asset is one everyone should expect beforehand: Tom Cruise being the star. He isn't my favorite as a human being for the same reasons that others don't like him. I wish he wasn't such a loon and wasn't a member of a certain “religion”, although his lunacy is the reason why he does so many of his own stunts... I understand he is nice to his fans so perhaps he is better than all those other problematic actors out there. Point is, I've never complained about any of his performances nor have I dreaded ever seeing him in a film. Many of the ones he is in are interesting and there have only been a few in his entire career that can be considered “bad”; most would say that The Mummy is solidly in that category.

He did very well in this role; I understand that the real Barry Seal (besides possessing no resemblance to Cruise) wasn't a charismatic anti-hero as presented here; I guess that wouldn't have been as popular a movie if the character would have been more true to life. But back on point, Cruise-as always-had charisma in spades and he was solid in his role. So was Domhnall Gleeson; I was gleefully happy to see him again after the astounding 2015 he had, where he was in Brooklyn, Ex-Machina, The Force Awakens and The Revenant and was marvelous in all four films playing four drastically different roles. Like I said, this was pretty good and something I don't regret seeing.

One last thing: I went to one of the few locations across the country that was showing it in IMAX. As this has stock footage and parts of the film look degraded/old on purpose, it is odd this was chosen to be shown in such a format, although at least it does usually look nice and I had no problem with the audio. All that said, it's honestly something which should be fine in a regular format and you definitely shouldn't go out of your way to see this in the IMAX format.