Drugs Are Bad, Mmmkay?

Rating: 7/10 (5 October 2017)

Doug Liman (Swingers, Edge of Tomorrow, Bourne) is one of those directors who's built a career on confident and skilled filmmaking without actually having much in the way of a specific voice. American Made fits that resume perfectly. He takes some familiar themes (love of money is the root of all evil, dishonesty inherent in the war on drugs) and a true American story, then molds into them perfectly. It gives us a Scorsese-like knock-off that isn't terribly original but is still a solid version of an all-too-true corruption story. Cruise stars as Barry Seal, a TWA pilot in the 1980s who is recruited by the CIA to be a courier for their dealings with Central American leaders, before becoming a drug runner. With intentionally rudimentary animation, edits to old news footage, and general 1980s filmmaking tendencies, it's full of great style and appreciated detail. The plane flying is fantastic, the costuming is sweaty and authentic, and the cash and throwing motifs are prevalent and effective. When Seal is slowly covered over by piles of cash, we get the idea pretty quickly that we are watching a guy get suffocated by his own desires. There's a lot packed into the film, and this is one of those rare occurrences in which I think this would be helped by being about an hour longer. While the details of the story are well covered, the characters, their motivations and their personalities get a bit looked over. Instead of being a full engrossing narrative, it comes off more like an information document. Nonetheless, American Made is a funny, cool and intriguing tale about governmental overreach and misappropriated power.