American Made (2017)

7/10

claudio_carvalho26 November 2017

In 1978, the skilled and ambitious TWA pilot Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) smuggles Cuban cigars to increase his income. Out of the blue, he is contacted by the CIA agent Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson), who asks him to work for the CIA photographing facilities over Central America using a state-of-art small plane. Soon Barry contacts General Noriega as a courier for the CIA and is contacted by the Medellin Cartel that wants him to transport drugs to the USA. Then Schafer asks Barry to carry weapons for the Contras in Nicaragua. Barry invites pilots that are his friends and plots routes to smuggle drugs for the cartel. The CIA closes eyes to the scheme and Barry becomes richer and richer. He uses the Arkansas town Mena to laundry his money. But the DEA and the FBI are tracking him down. When the CIA shuts down the scheme, Barry is left alone and arrested by the agencies. What will happen to his family and him?

"American Made" is an American action movie based on a true story and told like a comedy despite the seriousness of the situation, with the American government interfering this time with the Central America nations. The plot is engaging and entertaining and the despicable Barry Seal is depicted as a family man by Tom Cruise that has good performance. The background of corruption, political interference, trafficking of weapons and drugs are treated like something usual by the story that can not be taken seriously. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Feito na América" ("American Made")

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7/10

An Entertaining & Exciting Stuff! - Here is an actor who always (with some exceptions) delivers.

ReelShahid23 June 2018

Ever wondered what it would be like to see Tom Cruise taking a break from his usual Sci-Fi & Impossible series "avatar". Well, here is your answer - It gets even more exciting and entertaining. This is Tom Cruise's real life take on the impossible series where Barry Seal replaces Ethan Hunt and CIA as the agency, which dictates the terms. It's just that Barry loves to go with the flow and without any intention of getting involved with anything that seems out of his league and this is something each one of us can relate to. He is your usual guy who happens to be a pilot and wants to make some extra cash with every extra mile. So what's wrong with it? Well nothing is wrong when you do it for the right guys, and nothing gets more exciting and dangerous when those right guys turn out to be CIA.

What is even more amusing and entertaining to watch is the fact that despite having no choice left but to cooperate with CIA, "Barry Seal never says no" to any offer (even if it comes from any drug lord) that helps him maintain his cash flow that obviously was becoming unmanageable for him by every passing day. Although, I must admit that it was quite a fun to watch him trying to manage millions of cash that he had no idea how to spend.

You will definitely enjoy watching Tom cruise as Barry Seal who uses CIA to get his end of the bargain (and they thought that they were the only smart guys who live in one of the greatest countries of the world).

If you want to go on an adventure trip, go watch this movie and you will understand what Tom Cruise really means when he says, "I am just a gringo who always delivers".

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7/10

Entertaining with muddied morality

neil-4768 May 2018

Warning: Spoilers

Bored TWA pilot Barry Seal is prevailed upon by shadowy CIA operative "Shafer" to fly spy photography missions for them and, subsequently, to courier materials to and from Noriega in Panama. This turns quickly and easily into smuggling cocaine for the Medellin cartel. Much money results and, before he knows it, Seal is in the middle of a very big, lucrative and dangerous business.

Barry Seal was a real person, and the events shown in this film largely took place. I'm not sure if they would have taken place in quite the way they are shown here, though. Tom Cruise plays Seal as a likeable chap, an almost-loser who is a mix between savvy and naive, and blessed with an ability to regard morally reprehensible activity as somehow justifiable.

The film is played almost as a comedy and is quite amusing throughout, despite the questionable and occasionally violent activity which takes place.

I enjoyed it, but I found myself wondering about both the morality of portraying Seal as a likeable schmuck whose only crime was finding himself out of his depth, and also the presentation of what happened as a comedy. These were not merry japes.

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6/10

Entertaining, but quickly fades

rabbitmoon3 December 2017

American Made was a good watch - the story keeps a good steady momentum, the direction and editing are vibrant and dynamic. It has the vibes of something like Wolf of Wall St or a Guy Ritchie film, where despite the nature of the events you find yourself rooting for a criminal and laughing at the black comedy of how things unfold.

But it stays firmly in the mode of fast-paced 'zany' without ever really digging into emotions, desperation, or any human reflection. Barry Seal as a character remains a breezy, zany blur. Its just that kind of film. I think Cruise has a lot to do with that - his vanity as an actor, having to be seen as either confused- smiley or cool-intense in any given moment limits his courage to do anything else (Born on the Fourth of July was a real anomaly for him in terms of range).

Its as entertaining as any two episodes of Narcos - but without Narcos' complexity and variance. Good but not great, definitely worthy of a viewing.

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7/10

' DoubleCrossed" with dennis hopper was better

hurricane-105765 October 2017

I do love Tom Cruise movies...he is great... but in this instance....this movie is yet another remake....it should be called American Re maid....the original with the late Dennis Hopper was more believable and funnier.......Tom should keep his flying movies to Top Gun and its sequels.....So watch this movie with a grain of salt and than go watch Double Crossed...and tell me what you think... I believe you will be pleasantly surprised!!1

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7/10

Top flight

Prismark105 December 2017

In director Doug Liman who Tom Cruise has worked with a few times, Cruise has found someone who he could loosen up with a little, make a lower budget colourful flashy film where Cruise can be a little chaotic and free wheeling.

American Made is a fast paced film. A wily, naughty mischievous risk taker Barry Seal who goes from being a TWA pilot to a CIA contractor who ends up supplying arms to trafficking drugs for Escobar to training an illegal right wing Nicaraguan army.

Seal makes so much money he does not know what to do with it or even hide it. Of course there is a downside, eventually they are all after him and even his cunning cannot evade them all. Pursued by the FBI, Police, DEA, various cartels, Seal really has nowhere to run or hide.

Cruise seems to be enjoying himself on screen, Liman keeps the film moving but in a sense it is a familiar story. Once Seal makes it big, has a few bumps along the road, you even get that scene when you know the decline in his fortunes will start.

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9/10

Doug Liam and Tom Cruise make such a great pair

reoroy24 August 2017

Very few directors have tapped the clown in Tom Cruise the way Doug Liman has. He had directed Tom in Edge of Tomorrow which was humorous and was set amidst a post-apocalyptic alien invasion. American Made is just as humorous and is also set amidst an invasion of sorts except this movie is a true story. Captain Barry Seal had the adventure of a lifetime before falling prey to a monster of his own doing. But what an adventure it might have been for this man to smuggle contraband into and out of the States.

I felt Tom Cruise did a great job portraying the pilot in an extremely light-hearted and funny way. Cruise is known for playing roles that ooze oodles of dare-devilry. But most of those roles are of fictitious characters. For once Tom plays a real man whose daring knew no bounds. Captain Barry Seal was like a real-life Ethan Hunt. Hence I feel casting Cruise as Seal was an extremely appropriate decision and should help in filling Universal Studios Entertainment's coffers.

If you were awed after seeing the aerial sequences in Dunkirk, wait until you have seen this film. The planes are subjected to go through some intense acrobatics which will please you. 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.

A very ironic thing about American Made is that in 1986 when Barry Seal must have gone through whatever turmoil he did, a young Tom Cruise played a pilot in Top Gun which released that year. Did he know he would pay a real-life pilot who was very relevant during those days almost 31 years later ?

Watch American Made . Don't watch it for Tom Cruise's stardom. Watch it because you deserve to watch an entertaining and great film on the big screen that coincidentally has a superstar playing the leading man. I humbly apologize for the length of this post but sometimes I just can't control myself from pouring my thoughts out

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7/10

Cruise makes a Comeback

febhanli22 September 2017

Tom Cruise is back with a vengeance and after the train wreck that was The Mummy i can safely say that this movie proved that Cruise can act and Liman can direct.

While the narrative structure isn't always the best flowing the movie delivers great performances, an atmosphere that sucks you into the time period, and well made shots.

A highly underrated movie that i would personally recommend and a definite 8/10.

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9/10

Cruise Flying High Again.

bob-the-movie-man31 August 2017

If you ask anyone to list the top 10 film actors, chance is that "Tom Cruise" would make many people's lists. He's in everything isn't he? Well, actually, no. Looking at his IMDb history, he's only averaged just over a movie per year for several years. I guess he's just traditionally made a big impact with the films he's done. This all rather changed in the last year with his offerings of the rather lacklustre "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" (FFF) and the pretty dreadful "The Mummy" (Ff) as one of this summer's big blockbuster disappointments. So Thomas Cruise Mapother IV was sorely in need of a upward turn and fortunately "American Made" delivers in spades.

"Based on a True Story" this is a biopic on the life of Barry Seal, a hot shot 'maverick' (pun intended) TWA pilot who gets drawn into a bizarre but highly lucrative spiral of gun- and drug-running to and from Central America at the behest of a CIA operative Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson). All this is completely mystifying to Barry's wife Lucy (Sarah Wright) who is, at least not initially, allowed to be 'in' on the covert activities.

The film is a roller-coaster ride of unbelievable action from beginning to end. 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. This is a role made for him.

Also delivering his best performance in years is Domhnall Gleeson ("Ex Machina", "Star Wars: The Force Awakens") as the CIA man with the (whacky) plan. Large chunks of the film are powered by his manic grin.

As an actress, Sarah Wright is new to me but as well as being just stunningly photogenic she works with Cruise really well (despite being 20 years his junior - not wanting to be ageist, but this is the second Cruise film in a row I've pointed that out!)). Wright also gets my honorary award for the best airplane sex scene this decade!

Written by Gary Spinelli (this being only his second feature) the script is full of wit and panache and - while almost certainly (judging from wiki) stretches the truth as far as Seal's cash-storage facilities - never completely over-eggs the pudding.

Doug Liman ("Jason Bourne", "Edge of Tomorrow") directs brilliantly, giving space among the action for enough character development to make you invest in what happens to the players. The 80's setting is lovingly crafted with a garish colour-palette with well-chosen documentary video inserts of Carter, Reagan, Oliver Stone, George Bush and others. It also takes really chutzpah to direct a film that (unless I missed it) had neither a title nor any credits until the end.

The only vaguely negative view I had about this film is that it quietly glosses over the huge pain, death and suffering that the smuggled drugs will be causing to thousands of Americans under the covers. And this mildly guilty thought lingers with you after the lights come up to slightly - just slightly - take the edge off the fun. Stylish, thrilling, moving and enormously funny in places, this is action cinema at its best. A must see film.

(For the full graphical review of the film please visit http://bob- the- movie-man.com. Thanks.)

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6/10

" A Fun Lie Based on a True Story!"

spookyrat14 March 2021

American Made is about as close to a true story as Fargo was claimed to be. That is, not in any way. Doug Liman takes the bit between the teeth and attempts to make some sort of adventure comedy about a guy, who undoubtedly while having a pair, was likely to be a greedy creep. That Liman succeeds to an extent, is largely due to his directorial skills, Tom Cruise's natural charisma and Gary Spinelli's script, which serves up an entertaining blend of one part fact, mixed with four parts fiction.

Cruise, who is the physical antithesis of the real life character he plays, brings a boyishly devil-may-care exuberance to his role of Barry Seal. Seal was a former TWA pilot who may or may not have flown missions for the CIA, but eventually did become a drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel in the 1980s.

Punters who love Cruise and fancy a "Jesse James was really a fun guy looking for a few thrills" type of story will undoubtedly enjoy this lively romp, which features many historical figures earnestly addressing the screen in newsreel footage seamlessly integrated into the central narrative. Me, I just couldn't shrug the feeling that despite the professionalism of all concerned with the production, this is a story that didn't really need to be told in this format. Seal was no Indiana Jones type hero, who was seeking the betterment of his immediate community. He was as crooked as they come and ultimately probably got what he deserved.

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8/10

A seriously fun Cruise lead comedy/thriller

eddie_baggins24 August 2017

While we all eagerly await the release of the recently announced Top Gun sequel, Tom Cruise's latest slice of polished Hollywood entertainment American Made, 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 Kelly McGillis.

Re-teaming with his Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman, American Made is a relentlessly energized and seriously fun examination of the true life story of American Airlines pilot Barry Seal, who gave up his life as an everyday pilot to not only become a CIA recruited pilot delivering messages, guns and various other treats to South American contacts, but a drug runner for the Pablo Escobar Columbian drug trade, which makes for a wild ride that would be utterly unbelievable were it not in fact based on truth.

Fair warning to all, Liman and his leading man are totally uninterested in giving a dry history lesson of Seal's exploits, as American Made 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 American Made easily becoming one of the year's most purely fun and enjoyable rides.

At almost 60 years of age you'd be rightfully thinking it's about time that Cruise take a seat back and enjoy a more quiet time in his career but the unstoppable and enthusiastic leading man is having a blast here bringing Seal to life.

In almost every scene of the film, Cruise and Liman continue on with their rapport that they built in Edge of Tomorrow and Liman should be commended for bringing out Cruise's natural talents for comedy and when mixed with his easy going charisma that has made him such a beloved acting figure, Seal offers Cruise one of his best and most interesting roles in his long and varied career, no small feat when you consider the quality of his often underestimated C.V.

American Made's frenetic and sometimes scattered focus may detract from some viewers experiences and those looking for a more sombre take on a no doubt very serious topic may be disappointed but Liman and his cast's (that includes great bit turns from the likes of Sarah Wright as Seal's wife Lucy and Caleb Landry Jones as Lucy's dim-witted brother Bubba) ability to extract the absurdness and craziness of this whole situation and turn it into such a fun piece of entertainment should be a winner in the majority of cases, much like Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street did.

Final Say –

With Cruise on top form and Liman instilling his film with a breathtaking amount of energy, American Made is a pure piece of cinematic entertainment and an awesomely fun companion piece to Cruise's other well-known plane centred star vehicle.

4 future presidents out of 5

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TomCruise at his best

antoniotierno3 September 2017

A great story perfectly representing those years and with a stunning performance by Tom Cruise. I would say one of the best movie ever, in this genre, which is midway between a CIA based film and a biopic one. Barry's narration, delivered direct to camera, takes the form of a series of clips from a fuzzy home video supposedly shot in the mid-1980s, laying out the historical background in a dense fashion (he pretends at one point to confuse two countries) which seems most directly indebted to Adam McKay's The Big Short. The biggest coup is the casting of Cruise, who functions as a pure icon, recycling all his usual mannerisms – the grin, the hand gestures – and even revisiting his past as a pilot in Top Gun. The catch is that his depthless showboating for once seems intended as anything but likable.

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6/10

Often interesting yet never completely grabbed me

cherold19 July 2018

This fictionalized account of smuggler Barry Seal has much to recommend it. Cruise is his usual charming self, the film is interspersed with these interesting montage moments, and there is breezy humor and an intriguing story of criminals working hand in hand with the U.S. government.

But by the midpoint I was just feeling kind of disengaged. I wasn't quite sure what the point was. And Cruise felt slightly off in a role that would make more sense to me if he seemed a bit stupider and trashier; it seemed the equivalent of casting George Clooney to play Lyndon Johnson.

In the end, I would say American Made was perfectly fine, but it's the sort of movie I will have completely forgotten in a month.

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5/10

American Remade

jonathan-972-15013929 September 2017

Fun movie, if not for the fact that the truth was changed to protect the guilty.

In real life, Barry Seal was fired from TWA in '72 when he was charged for smuggling plastic explosives across Mexico. He flew tons of coke into the States for multiple drug kingpins, including Escobar. When he was busted, he started working for the DEA as an informant. He was overweight, poisoned his fellow Americans with drugs; and didn't care about his family enough to enter WITSEC.

From a historical perspective, it should be taken with a grain of salt that a guy like Seal, given his position, can be placed in a situation where everything is cool, time after time after time after time again.

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6/10

Too long and feels repetitive

cricketbat28 December 2018

American Made starts off interesting enough. And Tom Cruise is likeable, as usual. But this movie drags on too long and feels somewhat repetitive. Also, upon reading the real story, it's kind of disappointing to realize how many liberties the movie took after claiming to be based on true events. It's worth one watch, but probably not more than that.

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7/10

Corruption Corruption & Mor Corruption

EdIsInHell25 February 2019

Although I am generally not a Tom Cruise fan, he was fantastic as smuggler Barry Seal. A very entertaining film. Whether the entire story is 100% accurate we will never know but one thing for sure is that the US Government is as corrupt and filthy as we all think. A great watch.

Poke the toker for a couple of laughs.

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7/10

The Fun Way of Showing Biography of Barry Seal's Unique Life

MichaelNontonMulu27 August 2017

For a biography movie, this one was interestingly done. The way the story was told made it seemed quite fun. Some portions were using dark humor and Tom Cruise was real charming in here. I could actually picture him as this real unique character. His relationship with his wife and family was also real fun to look at, especially during the moment when he tried to convince her about the good about his works.

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. Especially the make up effects of Tom Cruise was also exceptional. He looked a lot younger than his actual age here. Even my wife was very amazed with his appearance and looks. 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.

The main attraction of this movie was definitely the uniqueness of Barry Seal's life as a pilot and smuggler and also the impacts he had in the US history during the Ronald Reagan's presidency then. It even had some political figures mentioned as well. The title of the movie also suit the story very nicely. You would understand why it has such title by the end of the film.

In the end, you could already guess the conclusion of the movie. Especially if you are a history buff who already knew the story of Barry Seal. There appeared to be various versions of his life story, so I am not sure either whether the one we saw here was the real actual version. But anyway, in term of entertainment, the movie was made into a non boring kind of biographical movie. However, those who were expecting to see Tom Cruise kick a$$ in this movie would probably be disappointed cause this is not that kind of movie. There were some action scenes but this film could not be categorized as action type. There were no very emotional moments as well (which I found rather odd as usually biography movie would have some of those parts).

Finally, if you are looking for a good biographical crime movie, this one might be a good option. Though this was not as heavy as other movies in such category, it was still interesting to see Tom Cruise's portrayal of one of the controversial character in US history. It was also directed by Doug Liman who was the director of some good and/or commercially successful movies such as The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Edge of Tomorrow and few others. But for those who are looking for movies with lots of actions by Tom Cruise, better wait for his next Mission: Impossible movies.

For my complete review, pls have a look in michaelnontonmulu.blogspot.co.id

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8/10

it's all about the money

lee_eisenberg25 June 2018

Warning: Spoilers

The main thing that I derived from Doug Liman's "American Made" is that these people care about one thing and one thing only: money. Whether it was the Contras, the Colombian drug cartels, or the CIA, they were more interested in getting rich than in fighting. And of course Barry Seal enjoyed raking in the dough (he ended up with more money than he knew what to do with, in fact). There was definitely no morality involved in any of this.

I understand that the movie took some artistic license. Even so, it's amazing what the CIA was able to get away with (of course, the fact remains that whoever makes the rules gets to break the rules). The so-called war on drugs was always total baloney. Not the greatest movie, but I recommend it.

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7/10

Stylish, funny and a roller coaster of a ride!

Lewis_Heather78727 August 2017

Warning: Spoilers

Lets get the record straight I personally would watch anything that Tom Cruise would appear in, over the past years his films have been solidly good with a few speed bumps along the way. Ever since hearing the story of this film and knowing that this film was entering production I was really keen to see what Doug Liman and Tom Cruise would do and they didn't disappoint.

Doug Liman is a great director and that is shown very well in this film, the whole direction as a film is beautifully stylised for the time period that it covers. 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 its 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. Liman gets top marks definitely one of his better films.

Now onto the man himself Tom Cruise, some people hate him, how? don't ask me. However the majority including myself love his work and as the older he has got the more adventurous he has got in the roles he has taken. I read in a article the other day and it said that "Cruise is ageing in the opposite direction, he is getting better with age". I believe that quote fully 100% and this film demonstrates it as well, he once again some how he is at the top of his game. Barry Seal is an interesting character because weirdly you want him to succeed which is strange, especially considering that the CIA basically abandoned him. Cruise is never out of character, wow i can't believe that even crossed my mind, he is witty, charming and has a lot of heart. Anyone should just see this film for Cruise and I suppose that is the point and the main attraction for most people, his performance is nothing ground breaking however it demonstrates flexibility in his ever changing résumé of work. I can't remember the last time he turned in a bad perfor..........cough.....oh who remembers the jack reacher sequel, see I can't even remember the name of it....

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. Its 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.

75% out of 100 or 7.5 out of 10, I really wish IMDb would change their scoring system, sorry back to American Made a solid film and really enjoyable. Has got good directing, editing, score and it has probably one of if not the most dependable actor that has lived in it. Not to sure why the film, in the UK, has a 15 rating I suppose its the subject matter but its not a dark, bloody or depressing film, I think its a real roller coaster of a journey with a lot of heart and a few good laughs. It is definitely worth your time!

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8/10

Cruise and Liman make a great pair again

scandinavianmail3 September 2017

Always reliable if not exactly visionary, director Doug Liman has another entertaining outing with Tom Cruise, reinventing his charm, swagger and grin as tools for finding easy cash and marital respect when honest work doesn't exactly get one far enough.

Cruise plays a totally reprehensible and despicable character and yet manages to keep everyone invested in the ride that accelerates with every misstep on the way, fully captivating the audience to wait for the extent of the looming train wreck. Cruise is entirely game here, not once trying to make audience feel sorry for his character or thinking that maybe he had a heart of gold, after all.

Worth pointing out is also a stellar turn from a less prolific Domhnall Gleeson whose ambitious CIA operator is equally blind, naive and brilliant, and Gleeson makes his oily presence wonderfully effective.

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American made... And remade... And remade...

Retsenzent15 December 2017

Lately, many movies like this one have been released.

The story, more or less, goes like this: a guy leads a fairly normal life, suddenly he has the opportunity to make a lot of money, he makes a lot of money, near the end, he starts having problems with the law (sometimes, also with his family). Everything falls apart.

These kinds of films are generally well edited, fast paced, include action, pretty women, weapons, drugs, etc... But, once you watched one, you watched them all.

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7/10

Fast-paced and zany action-drama is Tom Cruise's best movie in YEARS

paul-allaer30 September 2017

"American Made" (2017 release; 115 min.) brings the story of Barry Seal. After a clever 1970s montage featuring Jimmy Carter's infamous feel-bad speech, the movie introduces us to Seal, a TWA pilot Who is not adverse to shaking things up a bit (literally causing turbulence). It's not long before Seal is approached by a CIA agent to do clandestine reconnaissance in South America. It's not long before Seal gets involved in the Medellin drug cartel in Colombia... At this point we're not even 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this movie reunites director Liman with Tom Cruise, who previously teamed up on the well-received "Edge of Tomorrow" (for which a sequel is being planned). Here they bring us ("Based on a true story", we are reminded at the beginning of the movie) the story of a TWA pilot turned CIA informant turned drug runner. The movie is divided up in chapters, from "CIA '78" to "Colombia '80" and so on. While the subject matter is quite serious and Barry Seal not particularly likable per se, the movie is fast-paced and zany, and is helped tremendously by Tom Cruise's charming and very effective performance. The supporting cast are for me relatively unknowns, including Sara Wright as Barry's wife, and Domhnall Gleeson as the CIA handler. A minus point is the incessant use of hand-held cameras as well as the use of extreme close-ups. Enough already! We get that it is an action movie! There are tons of great song placements in the movie, and when George Harrison's "Wah Wah" plays of the closing moments and the end titles, it perfectly captures much of the movie's ebullience.

"American Made" opened wide this weekend, and I was looking forward to seeing it. The Saturday early evening screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati was attended poorly (about 20 people in a huge auditorium), much to my surprise. Perhaps strong word-of-mouth can generate a stronger box office performance in theaters. Regardless, this is bound to find a wider audience on VOD and eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. If you are in the mood for a quick-paced and charming drug-smuggling action movie that is Tom Cruise's best movie in, literally, years, you cannot go wrong with "American Made"

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8/10

An enjoyable if somewhat lengthy movie

terrynz-1607823 August 2017

I was lucky to get an advanced screening. First off, at least it kept my attention the whole way through. I had previously seen Cruise in the "Mummy" movie recently released and was not impressed with his acting there.

In this movie he returned to form and therefore the story-line was far more plausible. I say story-line, but in reality it is one of those docu-drama's, being based on fact. I wonder how much was dramatization as there were some parts where you would ask "did this sh*t really happen?!"

Would I be inclined to add it to my DVD collection, no. It was good as a one time showing. I suspect the length of it worked somewhat against it. A long movie needs to build up to a crescendo, and whilst this had lots of action it never seemed to hit that top note.

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6/10

Fails to Get Off the Ground

bkrauser-81-31106430 September 2017

At this point is there a person on earth who doesn't already know the CIA was up to some shady s**t in Central America? Those who might still be in the dark about this stuff please do yourself a favor and read "Castles Made of Sand" by Andre Gerolymatos or "A Great Place to Have a War" by Joshua Kulantzick. If you want something a little more specific to this film's subject matter there's "Smuggler's End" by Del Hahn. You can also watch: Bananas (1971), The In-Laws (1979), El Salvador: Another Vietnam (1981), Alsino and the Condor (1982), Under Fire (1983), Latino (1985), Salvador (1986), Romero (1989), Walker (1987), Down Came a Blackbird (1995),Blow (2001), Voces Inocentes (2004), Guatemala: The Secret Files (2008), Harvest of Empire (2012), Princesas Rojas (2013), Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014),the TV show Narcos (2015-present), Room of Bones (2015), Finding Oscar (2016), The Infiltrator (2016) and if that's not enough, the hearings on the Iran-Contra Investigation on Youtube.

All of these options and more would give you a more cogent, compelling and satisfying experience than sitting through American Made; a light, mediocre and curiously smug, bug-eyed view of important historical events. In it a TWA pilot turned CIA stooge makes a little side cash smuggling drugs, guns and people to and from Central America. While doing so, the movie frames the larger collusions and convolutions not as the result of a deeply flawed man sticking his thumbs in various proverbial pies but as an awkward jumble of "and then" filmmaking in spite of him.

Barry (Cruise) fits neatly into the recent crop of true-life protagonists too stupid to realize they're in over their head. He smiles crookedly, trying to hide his intentions under aviator glasses – mostly to the amusement of his CIA handler played by Domhnall Gleeson. He's clearly playing with a bad hand and everyone including the infamous Medellin drug cartel knows it, but damned if they're not entertained by Barry's good 'ol boy braggadocio. He's like a composite of the dudes from War Dogs (2016) only with the serendipity (and obliviousness) of Forrest Gump (1994).

What exactly makes a man like this tick? The movie doesn't really seem that interested in answering that question. Instead it seems more concerned with giving us a history lesson based on Barry's limited first-person perspective and various camera collage techniques that make American Made look like an episode of Arrested Development (2003-Present). This is of course told without wit, irony or the requisite anger needed. One can't help but think that if director Doug Liman brought the same level of ire to this movie that he did in the under-watched Fair Game (2010), American Made would have been a bit more palatable tosomeone.

As it stands however, American Made is for no one. It's a frustratingly mediocre waste of marquee space that's too dense to be entertaining and too cavalier to be worth a good discussion of Cold War foreign policy. It lacks characterization and perspective, leaving only Tom Cruise's boundless charisma to push it past the runway with any alacrity. As much as I'd like to say Cruise pulls it off, American Made as a whole should have stayed grounded for a little while longer.

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5/10

Feels like watching a movie length montage

Sawyer-481516234214 October 2017

I had virtually no expectations for this movie other than a trailer I had seen.

Turns out the entire movie is like a trailer. The whole movie was a series of jump-cuts from scene to scene. There were a ton of montages of Cruise flying, smuggling, etc. It felt like the movie tried to hard to not get bogged down in details, but as a result I found the movie hard to connect with. It didn't help that Cruise's character doesn't have much of a persona. He likes to fly and has questionable morals (such as being willing to smuggle drugs) but there is not much there beyond that.

I think they wanted to show that he loved his family but he made so many questionable decisions that put them at risk that it was hard to like his character. Plus some people have described this as a comedy but it totally lacked any laugh out loud moments or even internal chuckles.

I feel like this story could have been better told with more of a cohesive story line, rather than having Cruise montage his way through it all. It felt like a 2 hour trailer to me.

I gave 5 stars because the movie is somewhat entertaining, but I feel like it fell short of it's potential and I wouldn't watch it a 2nd time.

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