Mixed results

Rating: 6/10 (7 June 2018)

First the good : there is quite a lot of colour, excitement and panache. The movie clearly works on the "never a dull moment" principle, piling on the twists, turns, pursuits, escapes and jokes. The numerous spectacular flight or stunt scenes involving airplanes deserve special mention.
Sadly the movie is dogged by a number of plot holes. To quote but one example : the CIA hires a pilot in order to transport weapons from point A to point B. This is supposed to become a long-time arrangement, whereby the man executes numerous flights. The pilot does execute numerous flights. However, he does not drop off his cargo at point B, he drops off his cargo at point C, so that the weapons benefit a whole different party. The CIA does not notice or suspect this fact for a very long time.
Really ?
This, at least to my untrained ears, sounds highly implausible. One would think that someone somewhere would notice that the supposed beneficiaries go weaponless, in the same way that someone somewhere would notice that a third party is receiving huge amounts of weapons it isn't entitled to. Moreover, one would think that the CIA would have some kind of monitoring or supervision protocol, especially when dealing with persons known to be quixotic and unreliable. But nah, the CIA entrusts a delicate and costly mission to a known maverick, without checking progress or results. There are small-town cupcake bakers who run their business with more vigilance.
"American made" does deserve credit for pointing out that the CIA has a sad habit of interfering in international affairs, often in the most duplicitous or violent way. However, these episodes deserve a far more searching and in-depth approach than the one provided by the movie.