American Made
4 stars
Director: Doug Liman
Stars: Tom Cruise, Sarah Wright, Domhnall Gleeson
Duration: 115 mins
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd
I write this a few days after Tom Cruise broke his ankle while filming a stunt for the latest instalment of the Mission Impossible franchise… the sixth time the actor is taking on uber-agent Ethan Hunt’s death-defying exploits.
Roles similar to Hunt and his ilk are ones Cruise can now tackle with his eyes closed – hopefully that’s not why he missed the roof and had the accident. His recent projects – Edge of Tomorrow and the Jack Reacher series – have all been a variation of the action film he has taken on of late. It’s been a while since he has ventured outside his comfort zone.
However, while American Made offers him the sort of charming rogue he has perfected, in Barry Seal we finally catch a glimpse of Cruise’s dramatic chops as he breathes vigorous life into the film’s protagonist Barry Seal.
Hollywood Made would probably be a better title for this rather improbable story. And yet… this is based on a true story with some poetic licence added, of course, given the film’s tagline that it is based ‘on a true lie’.
Despite the fact that his actions are definitely illegal and morally just wrong, the joy and energy Cruise brings to the role is infectious...
Seal was a TWA airline pilot turned CIA reconnaissance pilot turned gun and drug runner for the Medellin drug cartel in Colombia who in the 1980s amassed a huge fortune doing just that. Little did he know that from harmlessly smuggling a few illegal Cuban cigars into the US he would become an important cog in the so-called Iran-Contra affair… one of the biggest scandals to hit the American government that decade.
All the while, Seal blatantly lived this double life, his CIA handlers remained completely oblivious to his alliance with the Colombian drug lords down south and vice-versa… or were they?
In Domhnall Gleeson’s cool, calm and cryptic CIA agent Monty Schafer, Alejandro Edda as Colombian drug trafficker Jorge Ochoa and Mauricio Mejia as soon-to-become infamous drug lord and terrorist Pablo Escobar, Seal has quite a few colourful and dangerous characters to deal with.
He soon finds he may have bitten off much more than he can chew. Granted, Seal is a character who shares Cruise’s accomplished charm, swagger and cocksureness. The actor successfully steers his energy away from a by-the-numbers approach; underneath all the bravado that seems to drive him, he finds the heart of the man.
His heart is in his family, as illustrated by the genuine love and devotion to his kids and wife Lucy (a great turn from Sarah Wright Olsen) who sticks by him through all the madness. But when Seal comes home one night to blithely announce they need to pack up and move to another state within two hours she is bewildered, and this isinevitably followed by her breaking out into a blinding rage.
While you can truly sense his anxiety when things start to go awry, and despite the fact that his actions are definitely illegal and morally just wrong, the joy and energy Cruise brings to the role is infectious… you can’t help but root for the guy.
Director Doug Liman is no stranger to premium action, and yet, to his credit he lets the story (from an excellent screenplay by Gary Spinelli) unfold via the characters and the events surrounding them. Although there is a sizable chunk of drama, the film is laced with very broad comedy and just the right amount of satire. There is also plenty of action. We witness the occasional car blowing up and there is the expected amount of gunplay.
Much of the action is limited to the skies with Cruise. He does most of the flying himself – getting in to some pretty hairy moments, like taking off from a very short ‘runway’ in the middle of the jungle, out-flying law enforcement officials, or – my favourite – flying on automatic pilot as he unloads his illicit cache onto the fields below.
All the while, the film offers some stunningly scenic shots of the colourful, lush South American jungle landscapes… as colourful as the character only America could have made.
Also showing
The Dark Tower (Class 12A) – The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the Man in Black, determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black.