In Tom We Trust
My Verdict: 5/10
Like most movie watchers, I like Tom Cruise as a performer. He never phones it in and his magnetic charisma can elevate a dull script into something somewhat watchable. But one halfway interesting character does not a riveting film make. Enter today’s slice of confused cinema: American Made.
On paper, it should be an interesting flick. Wisecracking but capable pilot gets recruited by the CIA. He doublecrosses them by getting in bed with a now-famous Columbian cartel and winds up floating between worlds on a buoy of money so large that even Walter White might consider slowing down a bit. Contra fighters! Pablo Escobar! CIA spooks! How could that be dull?
For starters, the plot moves so fast it’s hard to care too much about what’s happening. At first, I thought that was because the director didn’t want to spend too much time establishing characters and instead get right to the action, a belief that seemed to bear fruit during a few tense scenes in the first 40 minutes of the movie. But once I’d finished the flick it dawned on me that those were the only scenes in the entire movie where I’d felt anything at all. Events continue over several years and the progression is so lightning-fast that there isn’t time to establish any meaningful stakes. At one point we’re introduced to an FBI agent suspicious about the enormous amount of money that found its way to a backwoods town in Arkansas. He drives around town a bit and… that’s all that happens with him. The next time we see him he is arresting Barry in an admittedly amusing collision of different levels of bewildered law enforcement. While you might be tempted to confuse this with some sort of rising action, the movie treats it as a bump in the road, as does our main character. He’s out of cuffs ten minutes later and while the movie hints at some sort of comeuppance from an understandably perturbed State’s Attorney, nothing ever comes of it (although we are treated to the greatest George Dubya impression ever put to screen).
Furthermore, the movie spends no time at all on character development. Our main character Barry Seal gets one five-minute scene at the start of the movie to establish his maverick status. Come to think of it, every character in this movie can be succinctly summarized in one word, and our rebellious Barry is no different – he just gets the funny lines and more screen time (and he’s played by Tom Cruise, which helps). CIA man is detached. Louisianian brother-in-law is a redneck. The State’s Attorney is stern. Pablo Escobar… has a moustache? I mean, how do you make Pablo Escobar boring?! It’s truly mystifying that a movie with such a dynamic cast of characters endeavors to do so little with them. Writing this review I actually forgot that there were other pilots in the movie working alongside Barry, probably because all four (five?) of them together have fewer lines than one paragraph in this review. The characterization in this movie is that bad.
The theme of the day here is missed potential. There were some dangerous scenes but it wasn’t bombastic enough to be a thrilling action movie. Some funny moments but not enough to be a great comedy. Neither introspective nor dark enough in tone to be a cautionary tale of American greed. Frankly, it just wasn’t well-written enough to be interesting on its own merit. It felt like the creators tried to cram too much story that spanned too many different aspects into one movie and it suffered for it. Perhaps if they had focused more on his relationships with the cartel and his eventual informing for the DEA, or the strain his work must have put on his family, or honestly anything at all it might have made a more compelling movie. As it stands this is a 5/10. If you’re looking for a historical dark comedy with espionage, politics, and a bit of action miss this forgettable romp and take a peek at
The Death of Stalin instead.