Movie Review: "American Made"

"American Made": A.  As Tom Cruise proved in 1986's Top Gun, put his character in a high speed jet on a secret mission and you are well on the way to an exciting story with as many twists and turns as the flight path.  In American Made, Cruise plays Barry Seal, a TWA pilot who forsakes a high salaried job and comfortable life with his All American family for the chance to make millions in a shady and extremely dangerous new career.  The story is mostly told via flashback videos recorded by Seal approximately eight years after the initial action.  To assist the viewers, the videos are designated with on-screen labels showing place and year, e.g., "Panama 1978."

Appearing in several scenes is one Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson), who most likely is working for the CIA but, with a twinkle in his eye, never quite expressly admits to it.  When Schafer first approaches Seal, it's disclosed that Schafer and his employer, whoever that may be, already have a thick dossier on Seal, including his background, his family and his strengths and weaknesses.  The major strength would be Seal's elite skill in the cockpit, while the negative characteristic of his penchant for risk-taking makes for an ironic pairing.  Schafer does not need to sell the opportunity to Seal on the basis of patriotism, i.e., helping his government.  The biggest motivation for Seal is money.

We viewers are told that American Made is based on a true story.  Those of us familiar with the seventies recall that the United States, despite public statements and press releases to the contrary, supported various dictatorships around the globe, particularly in Central and South America.  The fear was that a democratically elected government would open the door to a rise in anti-Americanism, resulting in a central government leaning toward communism.  In the midst of the Cold War, it was important for the US to support pro-western leaders such as Panama's Manuel Noriega.  The most vital method of support was furnishing guns and ammo.  Secretly transporting that arsenal from the States to Panama was the mission which Schafer presented to Seal. There was little doubt in Schafer's mind that Seal, a natural-born daredevil, would say yes.

Seal goes into this arrangement with the CIA with eyes wide open.  He is cognizant of the dangers, knowing that his own government will disavow any connection to either himself or the gun running operation should Seal stumble into trouble. Seal chooses not to tell his wife, Lucy (Sarah Wright), what his new occupation is.  She believes he is and always will be a pilot for TWA, a job which affords their family a very comfortable lifestyle in New Orleans. He'd be crazy to even consider another position.

Once Seal has taken on the high risk quasi-sorties for the U.S. government, his appetite for excitement is whetted further.  A Columbian drug cartel run by three hombres, including Pablo Escobar (Mauricio Mejia), needs to get its contraband goods into the United States. Seal seems to them the ideal candidate. No sense flying an empty plane back home from nearby Panama, they point out.  When they mention $1000 per kilo (about two pounds), Seal's eyes light up; his plane can probably carry 1500 pounds! Of course he'll be their guy. What's to lose, except maybe his freedom, his family and his life?

The story gets more complex, with head-scratching decisions made by Seal at every turn. Well, maybe not so head-scratching when you consider that he can't find room on his property or in the local banks' -- yes, plural -- vaults for all his cash. If only his line or work did not have to be on a cash-only basis!

As is true with many stories involving clandestine operations, the plot takes us to a variety of unfamiliar locations such as: Nicaragua, home of the Sandinistas who were opposed by the US-supported Contras with the help of Seal; the swamps and bayous of Louisiana, Seal's preferred location for dropping off the Columbian cartel's inventory; and Mena, a western Arkansas hamlet chosen by the CIA when it moved Seal and his astonished wife out of New Orleans for security purposes.

At age fifty-five, Cruise continues to accept roles which actors half his age might find too strenuous.  Wright, playing his on-screen wife, is twenty-one years younger, yet the age difference is not at all apparent.  Playing Seal had to be a challenge.  In one scene he's confidently playing cat-and mouse above the Gulf with Border Patrol planes; in another he is staring down the barrels of automatic weapons held by a band of itchy-fingered revolutionaries in the jungle; in yet another sequence he is trying to soothe his seething wife after the family has been uprooted from New Orleans.  No matter his predicament, we are pulling for him at every stage.

Finally, a word about the ending.  It has long been my belief that movies which tell a story mostly via flashback have a self-imposed hurdle to ascend because, arguably, the dramatic potential of the last act is jeopardized.  We know that, no matter what leads up to that point, we will eventually reach that very point in the story arc.  But American Made's ending totally sideswiped me; I did not see it coming.  As I was watching the movie I realized that it easily qualified for a grade of A-, which is reserved for the very best movies I have seen in a given year.  But because of the masterful ending I have decided to raise my original ranking by one notch up to an A.