[This review was originally written in October 2017 and is now being published to coincide with the digital home media release. For an explanation of this, visit my Fall 2017 Important Update post.]
American Made jettisons off the runway to tell the true story of Barry Seal, a TWA pilot recruited by the CIA to provide reconnaissance photos of the developing Communist threat in Central America. The covert operation quickly spirals out of control when Seal's piloting prowess catches the attention of the Medellin Cartel, and he becomes embroiled in flying guns, drugs, and Contras across borders in an operation that'd later be exposed as the Iran-Contra Affair.
American Made marks the second teaming of director Doug Liman with star Tom Cruise after Live. Die. Repeat. (or Edge of Tomorrow... just call it whichever title you prefer at this point I suppose). While I'd seen that pairing work wonders before, I was still skeptical considering Cruise's recent streak of stinkers: Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and The Mummy (2017). If there's one thing to said about Cruise though, it's that the man always gives his all, regardless of the quality of the film surrounding him. And it's the dynamic combination of Cruise's electric performance and Liman's dedicated direction that are able to charge American Made, and then some.
The film utilizes voice-over narration and visual graphics of maps to explain all the intricacies of the affair, similarly to how War Dogs and The Wolf Of Wall Street explained the logistics of gun running and the stock market. I liked this technique because it simplified the more complicated elements that would have been completely lost on me otherwise. It's also worth noting that Liman interwove actual footage of the events along with the film itself to grant the biopic a documentary-eque aesthetic. This technique is then mirrored in César Charlone's cinematography when certain scenes are shot with less discipline and underscored by rocking tunes to add further credence to this out of control narrative.
I'm glad that Linman sought to tell this story in a fun fashion, because otherwise we'd have been stuck with a boring biopic. Gary Spinelli's script playfully flies from one screwy situation to the next, ensuring audiences remember how messed up this all is by constantly reminding them of the severity of Seal's actions. Spinelli also remembers to keep things grounded and accounts for the measured details of how the entire ordeal affected Seal's personal life. This could have easily became uninteresting, but audiences will have likely been won over by Cruise's charm at this point, so they'll be reasonably invested in the characters and willing to stick around for the long haul (family and all).
If there was one thing holding everything together though, it'd undoubtedly be the sly performance from Tom Cruise. Cruise appears to be having the time of his life making this movie, and it really shines through his captivating, roguish portrayal of Barry Seal. Every moment of Cruise's screen time is an utter delight, regardless of whether he's in the middle of a cartel shootout or riding away on a child's bicycle covered in cocaine. Very few actors could pull off such strange scenes as those, but Cruise consistently comes out on top.
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