Good Movie, but could have been better

Rating: 7/10 (30 September 2017)

I entered the movie theatre expecting movie similar to the Wolf of Wall Street, American Gangster, Lord Of War etc. These are landmark films, which have developed a cult following over time. It did help that the movie starred international Superstar Tom Cruise - a star renowned for his action flicks. We were expecting a high dose of action & drama. Biopics have a good chance of succeeding if a lot of time has been devoted to researching the principal character & having a tight script in place.The makers have devoted good amount of time researching the life of Barry Seal - the CIA agent, who also ferried cocaine for the Medellin cartel of Pablo Escobar & it shows. But they falter in scripting the life journey of Barry Seal. Although a lot of exciting things may have happened during the life & times of Barry Seal, it is not shown in a manner which excites the audience. It feels more like a plain jane reportage of the events that happened in Barry Seal's life. The director has to be blamed for not building up the excitement like Martin Scorcese did in Wolf Of Wall Street or the way Lord Of War starring Nicholas Cage was made. The film does show a lot of improvement in the second half. It is one of the movies which has a better second half. The second half feels a tad bit similar to Lord Of War, but it still does keep you engrossed till the end. Tom Cruise is convincing in his role. We were a bit let down by the character playing Pablo Escobar. Netflix has set the benchmark for how the legendary Medellin drug cartel boss has to be portrayed. You expect Pablo Escobar to be a menacing character who very mention makes people shudder. But the guy playing Pablo in this movie seems like a caricature of the Netflix version. The makers probably did not want the attention to shift away from Tom Cruise! We weren't bored while watching the movie, but the movie lacked the adrenaline inducing, end of the seat ride that other aforementioned movies in the genre offer. A lot of people will probably will watch the movie, but what could have been an Oscar winning performance by Cruise is reduced to just another caper.