Good Performances And Directing But An Excruciatingly Slow Pace And Got Me Bored After Awhile

Rating: 5/10 (28 September 2017)

"American Made" is the true story of Barry Seal, played by Tom Cruise, who was a former pilot turned drug smuggler and become an informant for the DEA in the 1980s. I was really looking forward to this movie since it had Tom Cruise in it, but I was ultimately let down by an excruciatingly slow pace and a movie that felt really rushed. I don't agree with the critics on this one.
I will say this, the movie is very well directed and most of the movie is shot with a hand-held camera, which to me is different for a drama. Director Doug Liman has proved before that he can use hand-held camera the proper way and this is no exception.
Tom Cruise also delivers an award worthy performance. This is him unhinged, and probably the best I've ever seen him. You could even say he's on Cruise control.
The rest of the movie just fell really flat for me. This film has really poor pacing, as it felt both rushed and a lot longer than it felt. There are a lot of time jumps and it really doesn't give the film a chance to breathe. There is really no intro tot he film as well, which I know there are other movies out there that just jump right into the thick of things, but I felt I needed some more background information as to what the situation was and who the character was. There was no emotional tug at the heartstrings in this film for me.
This movie's lack of a musical score also made the film feel a lot longer than it was. Sure there is a soundtrack in the background in some scenes, and I'm not expecting some epic, blockbuster musical score to go with a movie like this, but the films I find slow are the ones with a lack of musical score at most times.
I am going to give "American Made" a C.
Check out my review of "American Made" on YouTube for a more in depth analysis:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw4ddqed5VE