American Made

A very likeable film from start to finish. You can cheer for the main hero, although he's not fully a good guy, it's thrilling and funny and it has a pleasant retro look and sound. I often thought of Gold with Mathew McConaughey, which, of course, had something extra and I liked even more, but I rarely thought of the much worse The Wolf of Wall Street. Tom Cruise shows us why he still belongs amongst the most sympathetic and best actors. (06/09/2017)

Barry Seal is Tom Cruise's one man show. Totally. Actually, there's nothing here but Tom Cruise in a role that was tailor-made for him. As a likeable bastard who can work for three deadly organizations at the same time and still make a damn good living at it, he's downright brilliant. His Barry is an amoral bastard, but with such enormous charm that you'll be rooting for him even as he muddies the waters with Colombian cartel bosses, delivers weapons to Central American paramilitary organizations, and buries his money in suitcases in the backyard. Barry has style, and thanks to Doug Liman and his brisk direction, his adventures are quite watchable. And it's only at the end that you realise that it's actually playing it too safe, that Barry's sort of getting away with everything, lacking a significant antagonist, conflict or even problem, and that it's not actually very interesting. Cruise fans will probably enjoy it to the max, others will be treated to a stylish, broadly entertaining but more or less pointless film. (27/07/2018)

It's a pity that Cruise's best role in recent years doesn't come in a slightly better (understand: better written, built and with a dramatic point) film. American Made flies too smoothly. Especially in the first half, one almost prays for artificial turbulence. But Spinelli's screenplay is a flat track composed of repetitive episodes carried by Tom's charisma and a ready-to-use 80s vibe. Although Liman tries to decently direct the film, he doesn't pull out any extra drive with his 80s magical processes. Fortunately, Cruise enjoys his everyday crook, who generally doesn't ask too many questions, so that the viewer can enjoy him as well. American Made is a solid, but too long episode of Narcos. The film owes almost everything to the Netflix series, but unfortunately also can't cover its limits when it is compared to it. A serious historical topic is thus dismissed by a few shortcuts and jokes, which we know almost literally from Narcos. But the series managed to unexpectedly make a mark. Barry tries to do it in the end, but rather harmlessly. Why ****? Because Tom. So the 4th piece from pure fandom. (25/08/2017)

Clever and funny. This will stay around for a while. Cruise and Liman began to hit it off together on the Edge of Tomorrow and the chemistry continues in this free biography of smuggler, Barry Seal. Great comedy style, tongue-in-cheek to damning reminder of the insensitivity of the government. Perfect late 70s atmosphere, great music and two hours of good, honest fun. (02/09/2017)

Doug Liman is awesome and Tom Cruise rocks again. nice Barry Seal is a very story that is interesting and engaging enough to draw you in from the very beginning. The film benefits greatly from an interesting filter and at times I felt I was watching an episode of Narcos, which may well have been Doug Liman's inspiration. Working for the CIA and the narcos at the same time may be attractive, but it's a hard job that you can't escape or you'll die. The sex scene on the plane was awesome. A very entertaining film 80% (25/10/2017)