Sunday, October 15, 2017

American Made (2017)

Director: Doug Liman. Cast: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Jesse Plemons, Caleb Landry Jones. 115 min. Rated R. Biography/Thriller.

TWA. CIA. IAC. FBI. DEA. USA. Three-letter abbreviations dominating the real-life story of pilot Barry Seal, a profiteer who worked for three-letter entities, and then for Nicaraguans (namely, Noriega), and the Colombia drug cartels (namely, Escobar), and eventually led to what what was later known as the Iran-Contra scandal. A story so wild, you keep asking: Did this all really happen? And since Doug Liman knows you'll be baffled, he intermittently interjects with actual Carter and Reagan footage, to prove major plot points were real, so there's only minor dramatization. So engaging, I didn't notice the two hours passing by.

PS: Lovely use of George Harrison's "Wah-Wah" during the end credits. Strangely, there was also a pivotal moment for Harrison's "What is Life" during the recent Battle of the Sexes.

PPS: Thank you, Payam! I'm usually hesitant when I see Tom Cruise's name, so I almost missed this one. 

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