Tom Cruise will be getting back into the cockpit of a plane again in his next film American Made, but it’s got very little to do with geese, icemen or aviator shades, so Top Gun fans shouldn’t get too excited. Instead, it’s a crime biopic that sees him heading back to drug running in the 1980s, retelling the story of DEA informant Barry Seal.
It’s directed by Doug Liman, who worked with Cruise on 2014’s Edge Of Tomorrow, and with The Bourne Identity in his back catalogue he’s got a pretty impressive track record when it comes to action movies. The trailer paints a comedic setup to the film, but with a few fringe moments of intensity and with the nature of the story we’re expecting things to get pretty hairy for Barry.
Release date
American Made has been confirmed for UK release date of the of 25th August 2017, which is a month earlier than its arrival in the US on the 29th September. It’ll will be out in the UK on the same weekend as Dave Bautista action survival flick Bushwick, riot biopic Detroit and odd crime caper Logan Lucky.
Story
The plot trails Barry Seal as he gets in deep with the criminal underworld smuggling drugs for a living, thanks to his piloting skills and unscrupulous business sense. However, he goes on to turn informant, working with the DEA and CIA to secure them evidence to support the US government’s war on drugs.
This leads to a major covert operation against the Medellin cartel, which puts him in a lot of danger, but it also places his activity above the law, which features a little in the trailer below. However, things keep on escalating for Barry and one scary moment leads directly into another with much bigger fish connected to the pond he operates in.
Cast
Tom Cruise (The Mummy (2017)) is taking the helm for the American Made cast as drugs smuggler turned undercover informant Barry Seal and he’ll be joined by Sarah Wright (Parks And Recreation) as his wife Lucy. The film also features the acting might of Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad, Fargo: Season 2).
The cast list is completed by E. Roger Mitchell (Selma), Lola Kirke (Gone Girl), Alejandro Edda, Benito Martinez, Caleb Landry Jones (X-Men: First Class) and Jayma Mays (Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp).
Production
Gary Spinelli wrote the screenplay for American Made with Doug Liman as the director. Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind), Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver (Black Swan) and Tyler Thompson (Everest), Quadrant Pictures’ Doug Davison (The Departed), and Kim Roth (Inside Man) have produced the film with Universal Pictures putting it out for general release.
First impressions
If films like Edge Of Tomorrow and Oblivion have taught us anything, it’s that you can never write off a Tom Cruise film and while the trailer for American Made makes it look a little too much like a caper at times, there are just enough hints of intensity every now and again. Having Doug Limon in the director’s chair is another factor to take into account and considering that he worked with Cruise on Edge Of Tomorrow, we could be looking at another solid film from the pair.
Domhnall Gleeson doesn’t really come across too well in the trailer, but with his performance in Ex-Machina and his upcoming efforts in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, he could turn out to be better in the full film release. The cast has also got Jesse Plemons, who has had breakout success from his iconic TV roles, so it’s going to be interesting to see how he does with a big name movie.
