It’s all a little too predictable, a little too ‘shit eating grin, look at what I’ve just got away with’. We know he’s going to be cool, he’s going to look good and he’s going to be in a plane, because he’s in it. It follows the film theory known as ‘Star Studies’, or ‘Star Theory’ (or anything with ‘star’ in the title), and the general notion that because Cruise is such an icon of cinema, in a certain genre, with a certain cultivated image, generated by both himself, the studios he’s worked for, and Hollywood, the audience knows what to expect from him. Going back to my opening gambit about Cruise, there is a guarantee here of what to expect from American Made, because Tom Cruise is in it.
#PARENTAL REVIEW MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 SCREENIT MOVIE#
And this is where the movie falls a little flat. In fact, Seal resembles Christian Bale in American Hustle more than he does when played by Cruise. But Cruise hardly represents the real-life Seal, looking nothing like the man himself. Yes, most of that did happen (although not in the order we’re shown). Written by Gary Spinelli, the truth is as fast and loose as the movie. When I say it’s a somewhat if not total implausible story, I’m not joking. From dropping cocaine for Pablo Escobar to delivering AK47’s to the militias in Nicaragua, countering the communist threat for the USA, the whole story is insane. Without giving too many spoilers, although it’s a true story, so sorry, but the plot is basically a spoiler for the movie, Cruise take’s up Seal’s mantel as a one-time TWA airplane pilot turned CIA bag man/recon man (thanks to Domhnall Gleeson’s turn as ‘Schafer’), Medellin Cartel drug smuggler and, as we are reminded throughout, ‘the gringo who always delivers’. The movie itself follows the life and times of Barry Seal, whose name is as unbelievable as his story (it is true though, so fair enough). Yet having seen most of Liman’s films without really paying attention to the fact that he directed them, or without paying attention to the movie other than thinking, ‘yeah that looked cool’ or, in typical Michael Bay fashion ‘nice explosion!’, I find myself, for the most part, doing the same here. The other thing about Tom is that he makes enjoyable films, and that is no different here.ĭirected by Doug Liman, the man behind Jumper, Mr & Mrs Smith, and the Cruise starring Edge of Tomorrow, Liman is a man who knows his genre well.
But, and there is a but, it isn’t all that bad. Cruise can never escape himself, or his star persona, and this is the Cruise we also find in American Made.
Jumping from planes, sleeping with Hollywood standard beautiful women, firing some guns, and jumping from planes again. You know you shouldn’t, but once you do, it’s addictive, you keep going, watching back to back movies of basically the same character doing the same thing over and over. He too, is a movie itch you can’t help but scratch. This can work well for him, granted, and there is no denying that Cruise has made a fair few great movies, but he’s starred in a load of awful ones too. Top Gun, Mission Impossible (and such sequels), Cocktail, (and so on), the most memorable thing about them, truly, is that Tom Cruise is in them. Just think of all the Tom Cruise movies you’ve seen. Like an inescapable truth, when watching a Cruise movie, the only thing you really see is him, such is his stardom.
The trouble with watching a film starring Tom Cruise, is that you’re watching a film starring Tom Cruise.
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