A Scorsese style Tom Cruise quirkiness
A fairly unnoticed film which caught my attention when I was trying to watch something fun. The powder smeared poster of Tom Cruise in ‘American Made’ pretty much gives the idea of what to look forward in the movie. It’s a quirky story about a drug dealer. Unfortunately, you can’t help but compare with a Scorsese movie as it deals with drugs and personality. Probably for the ones who haven’t watched much of Scorsese, this film would have done wonders with the way it was made. But the Scorsese fan in me didn’t let me be so. Keeping that aside, the film promises a joy ride.
The films mood is set right from the scene one, a smoky cockpit, a dozing Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), a cigarette in the copilot’s hand which was going to ashes and more importantly handheld camera to give the uneasy feel. Barry Seal shakes up his plane a little bit to wake up his copilot, in the midst waking up the entire flight. Goes home tired and dozes off while his wife would be waiting for some action. That’s pretty much his life. Mundane and boring. This very sequence could have been made either in depressing way like ‘Evano Oruvan’ or quirky like this. ‘American Made’ choses quirky and in that one sequence we get to know what to expect out of this film.
CIA Agent Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson) meets Barry Seal with an offer he can’t refuse. The first scene they meet up was superbly made. We have the same reaction which Barry does. CIA is the last thing we could associate Monty with. I thought he’d be either a reporter or a low-profile drug dealer but he in fact was a CIA agent. It was fun. Going by the films nature and Barry’s character he immediately accepts the deal. No remorse. And that’s the beautiful thing. It’s not a film which deals with guilt and self-reciprocation. It’s fun and informal.
Post that it’s a typical Scorsese’s film with ups, more ups and down. Unfortunately seeing DiCaprio and Jonah Hill in a similar setup in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’, this film was underwhelming. As much as I’d have wanted to enjoy the film. I kept on reminiscing the glory of ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. Which was in fact phenomenal, it was like a comeback film of sorts for Scorsese, it is up there as one of his best work or may be even his best. That constant comparison made me not like the film as much as I wanted to. Scorsese has setup a benchmark in the category of drugs and chaos.
Like any of the drug film, the hero was reckless, had a hot wife, a friend who’s a problem and more importantly a brother-in-law who blows up the cover and gets blown up in the midst of it. Loved the way his character was “taken care” by Medellin Cartel. It was fun to see the Drug Cartel during the early days when they were not big. Wish a little more of it could have been explored but its understandable that it’s not a film about them but about Barry.
The film ends on expected lines, I felt a teeny bit emotional, but it was intentionally made in a dark tone to not feel bad for the hero. In fact, it cuts the very next second from the frame. Overall, the film looked a little hurried, just like Seal’s character. The Films tone was restless and made so. Each film has a tone and this film stuck to the restless tone. Although it felt restless, there were junctures which felt boring and mundane in the middle. A much recent example which handles the tone of a film beautifully was ‘Uncut Gems’. The way it handles ‘anxiety’ made us both anxious as well as interested in the movie. We couldn’t move away from the screen even if it does so, like getting into a roller coaster, even though we know its not going to be a smooth ride. That’s the beauty!
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