"American Made"

Matt Duncan
Coastal View News

Being a pilot for a major American airline isn’t a terrible job. It offers good pay, great benefits, and an opportunity to see the world.

But it also has to be tiring, and pretty dull at times. Plus, all that time away from family can take its toll. So if you were in Barry Seal’s (Tom Cruise) position, maybe you would do what he did.

And he really did it. This is a true story. It all started in the late 1970s with a little cigar smuggling—a victimless crime. Unfortunately Seal gets caught. But the CIA is looking for a little help. So they step in and, naturally, they turn the situation to their advantage. All Seal has to do is, you know, fly a bunch of machine guns to rebels in Central America.

Seal likes adventure. So he jumps at the opportunity.

So far so good. But then, during a mission, a drug cartel—the infamous Madellin Cartel, no less—nabs Seal and says, hey, why not fly some drugs (i.e., cocaine) back to the U.S.—you’re heading that way anyway.

Seal likes money. So, again, he jumps at the opportunity.

Seal is good. He always delivers. This is his chief virtue, and it is unquestioned. Hard work pays off, you see. It’s the American dream! Right? So it’s guns by day, drugs by night.

But then yet another agency gets involved. The DEA catches on to Seal’s drug operation. He’s caught again! But, again, the CIA has a deal. They’ll bail him out—they’ll even relocate him to a huge ranch in Arkansas—but now Seal has to do a special job for one Ronald Reagan. He has to run guns to Nicaraguan Contras.

Now Seal is in pretty deep. So he doesn’t really have a choice. Plus, he still likes adventure and money. So he goes all in.

Things get more and more complicated, as they are prone to do. Drug lords, DEA agents, contras, CIA and FBI agents, The White House, and mooching in-laws are all in the mix. Seal always delivers. But this, his signal virtue, can’t keep him out of hot water—in fact, it’s what got him in it. But if not his character—or his wholesome southern drawl—what can save this two-faced American?

“American Made” is a perfect title for this movie. Despite the fact that all of the products that Seal transports are made elsewhere—the guns are from Russia and the drugs are from South and Central America—this whole sordid affair is distinctively American. The affair is American, and so are the traits that produced it: greed, arrogance, an overblown sense of moral invincibility, and the conviction that might (plus money) makes right.

So this is a clever title for a true American tale. Still, unlike its main character, “American Made” plays it safe. Almost by its very nature, there is nothing special about this movie. On the other hand, there isn’t anything especially obnoxious about it either.

Fantasy football enthusiasts often talk about low ceiling players, who will never get you a ton of points. There are also high floor players, who, at a minimum, will do all right. “American Made” is high floor, low ceiling. Its subject material virtually guarantees that it won’t be a total disaster. But then there’s only so much you can do to make a movie like this special.

Tom Cruise is fine, the other actors are fine, the writing and directing is fine, as are the cinematography, music, wardrobe, and so on. Nothing groundbreaking. But “American Made” is fine.