7/10 Coming off of perhaps the worst film in his career with “The Mummy”, Tom Cruise reteams with a director he has had success with before, Doug Liman (“Edge of Tomorrow”) and almost makes us forget about the two painful hours I had to sit through with his failed attempt to start up Universal’s Dark Universe. Liman and Cruise have proven to be a good film making team and even though this isn’t as good as their first collaborative effort, this is still a decent film that is worth seeing. The most fascinating aspect for me to “American Made” is the story. The fact that this is based on a completely true story which involved our government running drugs, weapons and more out of and into the country is just one of the thousands of examples of American government being corrupt and above the law. Learning what I learned from this film was the biggest takeaway and made me want to learn more. In some ways, the storyline being a fascinating true story is reason enough for me to recognize the film. Beyond that, the film is well made. It takes a little bit of a documentary style approach using handheld cameras but it suits the film well. The recreation of the film’s time period is also very well done through expert production design and costume design. The acting is solid across the board and it was nice to see Domhnall Gleeson play a character whom he normally doesn’t play. I liked that Liman went with a lot of unknown actors to play the supporting roles, instead of distracting us with bigger name actors. It made the film feel more authentic. I do have a couple complaints, however. Cruise’s wife in the film (played by Sarah Wright) is very underdeveloped and is just there to fill the “romantic interest” quota of the film. She could have played a bigger, more important role which would have given the film a more emotional impact, something the film lacked a little bit of. The score was also fairly forgettable and although the overall film was decent and entertained me, like the score, it isn’t an extremely memorable film. So although I do recommend you watch this fascinating true story, I would say you could probably wait for it to come out on DVD/Netflix. A good film, but not a film that is mandatory for in theaters.
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