In 2017 two films were released starring Tom Cruise. One was a big Hollywood blockbuster called The Mummy (an attempted reboot of the 1932-1955 franchise) and the other was this one:
American Made (2017)
Promotion for The Mummy was everywhere! TV, the internet, billboards, ads on the radio you name it. This movie however only seemed to get a few short TV slots during the adverts and that was it.
Why am I telling you this? Because The Mummy turned out to be a massive pile of donkey crap and American Made was excellent!
If you haven’t seen it, it’s an action/comedy/crime/drama starring Tom Cruise (Top Gun), Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina), Sarah Wright (The House Bunny), Jesse Plemons (Game Night) and Caleb Landry Jones (Get Out) among others.
This is what it’s about according to IMDb:
“Barry Seal was just an ordinary pilot who worked for TWA before he was recruited by the CIA in 1978. His work in South America eventually caught the eye of the Medellín Cartel, associated with Pablo Escobar, who needed a man with his skill set. Barry became a drug trafficker, gun smuggler and money launderer, soon acquiring the title, 'The gringo that always delivers'.”
This is such a great film and a real example of how decent movies can get totally overshadowed by higher budgeted, yet inferior blockbusters.
The story is loosely inspired by the life of Barry Seal who, while flying missions for the CIA became a drug smuggler for a cartel and then became an informant for the DEA in order to avoid jail time.
It’s a crazy story with some great humour and a top performance by Tom Cruise.
If you haven’t seen it and aren’t one of those people who hate Tom Cruise I highly recommend checking it out.
Seen it? Let me know what you thought of it.