#REVIEW: “AMERICAN MADE”

Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong

Director Doug Liman has delivered time and again with hits like Mr & Mrs. Smith and The Bourne Identity. While his latest night feel a little too long, American Made is a blast from start to finish, and maybe even a little exhausting through it all.

The Movie centers on Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), an airline pilot who gets caught in some shady business like smuggling in Cuban cigars through Vancouver and Montreal. Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson) offers Barry a way out of his prison time for smuggling illegal cigars, advising him to join the CIA and do their “dirty work” for them, whether that be supplying guns, drugs, taking photographs pertaining to the Cold War, you name it the CIA asks Barry to do it. Barry is an arrogant man and wants to make more than just his CIA money, so he decides to start running drugs into America for Pablo Escobar (Mauricio Mejia). American Made tells the exploits of Barry Seal and all of the trouble he gets himself into.

Tom Cruise consistently gives his all and American Made is no exception. Where the Film falters however, is its pacing. There are moments and sequences in the Movie that truly feel like they could’ve been cut or at least shortened, but second-time Feature Screenwriter Gary Spinelli does do a good job, despite how this story could have been told more conicisely.

Domhnall Gleeson plays a no-nonsense CIA agent perfectly, while Sarah Wright as Barry’s wife Lucy plays the cautious and aggravated wife well also. The performances in American Made are memorable and noteworthy.  While its downfall is its flow, a sprinkling of light humour certainly helps it go by much quicker.

Like Tom Cruise does in the Movie, hop on a bicycle and catch American Made.

Universal Pictures Canada releases AMERICAN MADE in theatres on Friday, September 29, 2017.