American Made Quick Take

Review of American Made written by Gary Spinelli
Rating ****

A pilot for TWA gets involved in the Iran Contra scandal. He also decides to smuggle drugs for a Columbian drug cartel. What could go wrong?

Tom Cruise does a good job portraying TWA pilot Barry Seal. The aviation scenes are authentic. Cruise is a pilot. So, that helped. The only problem is that Barry wasn’t the most likable fellow. Not only did he make some poor moral decisions, but he also didn’t seem to care who got hurt in the process.

One of the funnier scenes in the movie involves Barry starting his car. After turning on his drug cartel connections, he knows it’s only a matter of time before they come looking for him. Having seen his brother-in-law blown up by a car bomb, Barry expects a similar fate. So, every time he goes to start his car he makes sure that no one is standing near the vehicle. “Can you move back a little, please,” Barry tells a passerby. “I’m about to start my car.”

Things don’t end well for Barry. I’ll leave it at that.