American Made (2017)

Seal is an airline pilot that tops up his money smuggling cigars! Then ends up getting ensnared by the cia to take air photos and he then jumps from this to smuggling coke ! He becomes very very rich and it is quite amusing as Seal has kept video diaries of all his escapades. Overall a good film and enjoyable.

This fictionalized account of smuggler Barry Seal has much to recommend it. Cruise is his usual charming self, the film is interspersed with these interesting montage moments, and there is breezy humor and an intriguing story of criminals working hand in hand with the U.S. government.But by the midpoint I was just feeling kind of disengaged. I wasn't quite sure what the point was. And Cruise felt slightly off in a role that would make more sense to me if he seemed a bit stupider and trashier; it seemed the equivalent of casting George Clooney to play Lyndon Johnson.In the end, I would say American Made was perfectly fine, but it's the sort of movie I will have completely forgotten in a month.

The main thing that I derived from Doug Liman's "American Made" is that these people care about one thing and one thing only: money. Whether it was the Contras, the Colombian drug cartels, or the CIA, they were more interested in getting rich than in fighting. And of course Barry Seal enjoyed raking in the dough (he ended up with more money than he knew what to do with, in fact). There was definitely no morality involved in any of this.I understand that the movie took some artistic license. Even so, it's amazing what the CIA was able to get away with (of course, the fact remains that whoever makes the rules gets to break the rules). The so-called war on drugs was always total baloney. Not the greatest movie, but I recommend it.

It's really a mishmash of others you've seen before. Have you seen Blow? Lord of War? Well then you've seen this one mostly or can guess enough of the story and how it will all pan out. Not that that makes it a bad movie. Strange vehicle for Cruise, especially as he is playing a man who even just physically was nothing similar (real man was very fat). Anyhow, Tom Cruise is an everyday man who ends up claiming to end up way over his head with drug dealers, government dark arts and mass government scandals.The said character is a chancer, but knows his market flying his battered planes full of drugs or guns between the US and Latin America, amassing ridiculous amounts of cash with the idealised white fence home and family turning a blind eye. And yes, it all comes crashing down. Tom Cruise strangely plays against type but still as himself! Yet it works, but the charisma is sadly masking that his character is really no hero or friend. Maybe simply Cruise wasn't the right person for the role despite giving an admittedly good performance. Credit though where it's due as he has taken a role that isn't really par for the course of what he's done before. Although he & his wife just seem too perfectly beautiful for the roles as a battle hardened blue collar couple who strike it lucky then all the way down.It's well made and shot and often humorous, but I couldn't empathise and am certain that enough of it masks the truth, with the authors and sources exaggerating what really happened with this character. Possibly the truth was even darker.It's fine to watch but ultimately it won't grab you enough and will remain on the shelves. Fine effort, interesting story but nothing more.