Film: 'American Made'

Okay, okay, I know. Get the hisses and boos over with. I've just given a part of my money to a loathsome cult! 

I'd already semi-decided never to see another film featuring little Tom (Cruise) again, as several of my followers have long since done, but I chickened out of that soft resolution after becoming aware of some pretty good reviews about this one - so 'fraid that the call of 'duty' got the better of me. But this could be the last, I promise - well, semi-promise.

Entertaining enough as it plays along, slick, efficiently constructed and never boring - it's too snappily edited for that - but ultimately it's memory-disposable.

It's an interesting story (based on 'fact', as are seemingly the majority of films these days) with T.C. playing an airline pilot whose smuggling of cigars into the USA comes to the attention of the CIA which decides, under the temptation of non-prosecution, to utilise his expertise with aircraft to get him to take from a supplied small, purposely-equipped plane, surveillance photos of left-wing insurgents in vulnerable Central American countries fighting reactionary governments, an operation for which he is handsomely rewarded. In the process he comes across a smuggling operation to bring drugs from those countries into America and he complies, bringing even more ready cash for him - in total so much that he doesn't know where to put it. Then under Reagan's administration it's decided to support the Central American so-called 'freedom fighters' in their attacks on 'socialist' (at least nominally) rebels by covertly supplying the former with arms - eventually leading up to the Iran-Contra scandal and the uncovering of underhand tactics by an initially denying and then embarrassed U.S. Government, principally represented in the figure of Oliver North.

T.C. tries to perform a balancing act to keep the triangle of his personal active supports in operation, trickily trying to play one off against the others - and for much of the time he succeeds with his juggling, until........does it all comes crashing down? Shan't say.

He plays a character we've seen numerous times before, though with one major difference here as he's got different loyalties in a number of conflicting directions, and I must say that he does okay with it.
His wife, (Sarah White) suspicious as to from where he's getting all these riches beyond anyone's dreams, plays along reluctantly, he having to lie to her on the true nature of his 'business' - but what the hell does it matter when it's so much fun! 
Worthy of special mention is Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson ('Ex Machina' and 'The Revenant', son of Brendan G.) playing the anchor CIA operative trying to keep the entire operation, at least as he sees it, under wraps.

Director is Doug Limon ('The Bourne Indentity' of 2002) who does pretty well with the rather good material's twists and turns.

Another interesting feature is that although the language is violent throughout, with many lurid threats flying this way and that, we never see any blood - or, in fact, any violent physical action at all that I can recall.

Not bad entertainment and unpredictable for the most part, but in the final analysis, once it's over it's unlikely to be a film which will linger in the mind for very long.....................6.