SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

So, a film I saw over the Christmas holidays was another Tom Cruise film that my Dad gave Mum for Christmas called ‘American Made’. This film was released in 2017. It depicts the life of Barry Seal, a TWA pilot that becomes a drug smuggler in the 1980s.

This was for the Medellín Cartel before he became an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to avoid prison. I must admit, I’m not familiar with Barry Seal’s place in American history, so it was fascinating to uncover that whilst watching the movie.

This was also the second occasion, I believe, where I came across Tom Cruise playing a historical figure, as he did that before with playing Colonel von Stauffenberg in the 2008 film ‘Valkyrie’. Granted, ‘American Made’ is more an action-comedy film than ‘Valkyrie’. 🙂

Mind you, you don’t want to get too comfortable when it comes to watching the film for laughs. For one thing, the film contains some very strong language. I couldn’t believe the amount of F-bombing and the usage of the S word being featured in this Tom Cruise film.

There’s also the fact the film ends rather tragically with Barry Seal getting killed off by an assassin. I suppose I should have expected that considering films ‘based on a true story’ often end like that, but again, I’m unfamiliar with Barry Seal’s story to know what happened.

I enjoyed seeing the film and Tom Cruise delivers an enjoyable performance as Barry Seal, right down to putting on a different accent for the person. It was also enjoyable and fascinating to see Tom Cruise as Barry recording himself on VHS tapes in 1985 and 1986.

As well as Tom Cruise, the film also features Domhnall Gleeson as Monty Schafer, a CIA case officer that recruits Barry Seal on special missions. Some of you may have seen Domhnall Gleeson in the ‘Star Wars’ sequels trilogy and the two ‘Peter Rabbit’ movies.

There’s Sarah Wright as Lucy Seal – Barry’s wife, Jesse Plemons as Sheriff Downing, Caleb Landry Jones as JB, Alejandro Edda as Jorge Ochoa and Maurico Mejía as Pablo Escobar. Some of the people that Barry Seal encounters in this film range from American to Spanish. 🙂

I say that because there’s a lot of globetrotting where Tom Cruise as Barry must fly via plane. It’s not the plane flying he does in the ‘Top Gun’ movies though. I also revisited ‘The Three Caballeros’ recently, as it made me think of Americans interacting with the Spanish.

It was a shock when JB, Barry’s unemployed brother-in-law, gets killed in an explosion when a car bomb goes off. This is placed by the Medellín Cartel when they promised to ‘take care’ of the problem Barry had with JB stealing money before he’s set free on bail. 😐

I don’t think that aspect of the story gets followed up on, especially when Barry had JB dead in the car hidden away. To be honest with you, I’m not sure I fully grasp the plot of ‘American Made’. Perhaps a couple more viewings would help me to get a clearer picture.

The film’s cast also includes Lola Kirke as Judy Downing, Jayma Mays (who was in the two live-action ‘Smurfs’ movies) as Dana Sibota, Benito Martinez as James Rangel, E. Roger Mitchel as Agent Craig McCall. Jed Rees as Louis Finkle, Frank Licari as ATF Officer No. 1 and Fredy Yate as Carlos Ledher.

There’s Justice Leak as DEA Agent Winter and Alberto Ospino as Manuel Antonio Noriega. Apparently, Connor Trinneer, who played Charles ‘Trip’ Tucker III in ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’, played George W. Bush in one scene of the film. He was convincing as Bush. 😀

‘American Made’ is a Tom Cruise film that I don’t think I’d be seeing repeatedly, though it has been a fascinating film to check out when it depicts the life of Barry Seal. Whether most of it is historically accurate is a matter for debate, but it’s still enjoyable. 🙂

I prefer ‘Knight and Day’ recently as well as the ‘Mission: Impossible’ films with Tom Cruise. I hope I’ll be able to check out the 2008 film ‘Valkyrie’ sometime, as it’s been a while since I’ve seen it. 🙂 No matter what happens, Tom Cruise always delivers the goods. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂