American Made

American Made is a very straightforward crime comedy without any major stumbling blocks and it makes no effort to face us with any difficult moral dilemmas. It conspicuously imitates the style of Scorsese’s films (pop songs, a narrator intervening in the story and determining what we see and how we see it, attention-grabbing camerawork and editing) and cashes in on the popularity of the TV series Narcos, so it comes across as unoriginal and predictable, but thanks to the smooth (albeit slightly mechanical) narrative and Cruise’s charisma, it is entertaining from start to finish. The position of the main protagonist is unusual (for a Hollywood movie), as he lets himself be dragged along by circumstances and merely accepts outside offers and follows orders dictated to him through almost the entire film. He can demonstrate his ingenuity only in the way he carries out deliveries of certain goods, not in what he actually does. It would almost be possible to interpret him as the embodiment of American pragmatism, the ability to adapt to the given situation and make the most of it for himself, but we know too much about him (compared to the other characters, who are really only types) to perceive him in such an impersonal way, and relatively strong emphasis is placed on the family storyline (which, however, the film handles much more carelessly than The Wolf of Wall Street, for example – you will probably care as little about the protagonist’s wife and children as you did for Barry). Of the films that “comfort” us with the fact that people may be bad, but their governments are worse (War Dogs, American Hustle), this one gets bonus points in my eyes for taking the procedural side of things into greater consideration and for not pretending to be anything better. It’s simply light summer macho entertainment that does everything possible to keep the viewer from getting bored for even a second and, unlike Atomic Blonde and The Hitman’s Bodyguard, it does that very well. 70% (23/08/2017)

American Made is a funny, fast-paced and, thanks mainly to the excellent Tom Cruise, a really cool chill-out movie that does not try to be dramatic. Which surprises me, because had its satire been a little more piercing, it could have reached the heights of Martin Scorsese. (31/08/2017)

A worse feature episode of Narcos, made in a relaxed but inconsistently executed style of The Wolf of Wall Street or the Lord of War. So, it never finds its own path and so it crouches in the shadow of the above. What would help is a better-built storyline, some emotions and a better executed shift to more serious department at the end, but purely as 80s stylized relaxed biographical nonsense, it's not really bad at all and it's definitely fun. Take my word for it. Especially thanks to Cruise, who is a great fit to this comic conceived role of a passive macho dude. Partly because he doesn't try to stylize himself into the real Barry Seal and he just plays himself. (24/08/2017)

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)

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)