American Made is a slyly comedic drug fuelled escapade about the career of Barry Seal.

Rating: 7/10 (28 February 2018)

I used slyly due to the themes involved, it involves the Iran-Contra affair that gripped Central America in the 80's. It's a well documented scandal, we had The Infiltrator last year which tackled the same subject. What started off as simply taking photos in Colombia, turned into smuggling cocaine. Then smuggling guns. Oh, don't forget smuggling Contra fighters. Then hiding all the laundered money. Outwitting the DEA, ATF, CIA, FBI, State Police and Pablo Escobar. I mean a lot happened to Seal over the course of 7 years, which is what made this film enjoyable. It's pacing is very brisk, something is always happening and the inclusion of Seal's narration helps to outline the plot without making the audience seem unintelligent. It's not just Seal's "career" that the plot revolves around, it's also his personal life. His family are suddenly brought into a lavish lifestyle of riches, and surprisingly his wife's greed actually makes her an asset to him as she starts to hide the laundered money. An interesting dynamic between the two but a clear statement that money corrupts everyone...including the innocent. Tom Cruise gives a hundred percent as always, I found him to be charismatic and charming which made Barry a likeable character. Supporting cast were decent, particularly Domhnall Gleeson. The editing and direction felt fresh, with plenty of stop frames and embedded animation to enhance the subtle comedic undertone. The story felt very light hearted. It wasn't heavy to a point where it felt depressingly dull, it was a fun creative vision on a formulaic film that has been portrayed many times. There just was not enough substance to substantiate a longish runtime. The plot is constantly going back and forth much like with Barry and his smuggling, it took too long to actually progress and therefore was not always engaging. The ending was slightly rushed and anti-climatic in comparison to the finely developed second act. Well crafted, just too empty.