(REVIEW) American Made: The Moment Tom Cruise Rises from the Grave

 *Spoiler Alert: This article contains movie leaks that can be annoying for those of you who haven't watched it.

Story: 8.5 | Characterizations: 9 | Sound Effects/Scoring: 8 | Visuals: 8 | Final Score: 8.4/10

When she saw Tom Cruise in this movie poster, Viki was reminded of the same bad appearance in The Mummy . In fact, it has nothing to do with it at all. But his failure in the film, which is predicted to be the opening of Universal's Dark Universe , still makes an impression. This is actually not 100% the responsibility of the actor, because he is only told to act according to the scenario and direction given by the director.

Well, if you think American Made will be another bad film starring Tom Cruise, get ready to be disappointed, because this film is really cool and entertaining. So is Tom Cruise. He seemed to have risen from his "death" and returned to being the Tom Cruise we have known for a long time.

American Made is a biopic based on the true life of Barry Seal, an accomplished pilot who works for an American airline. His life then changed completely after he was recruited into a CIA agent and assigned to photograph communist nests in Central America. Unfortunately, the challenges he thought were already extreme enough became even more difficult after Jorge Ochoa and Pablo Escobar, the boss of the Medellin cartel, the biggest drug lord in Colombian history, recruited him as a courier.

This film is also proof that Tom Cruise is not as bad an actor as he showed in The Mummy . He successfully shines and shows his skills as a versatile action actor. His acting looks natural, coupled with his cheeky and cool demeanor that makes us feel carried away.

Unfortunately, Tom Cruise's brilliance is too dominant. You could say he doesn't need a special appearance from the other characters. Even so, the appearance of other actors is not bad. They really can't keep up with Cruise. However, they managed to make the audience get carried away with good acting and chemistry .

American Made is also the second time for Tom Cruise to act under the direction of director Doug Liman. Both were equally successful in the film Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Liman himself is also successful as a director Mr. and Mrs. Smith , as well as the Bourne film franchise .

Doug Liman's brilliance is evident. He can bring Tom Cruise back to how he used to be like in his former glory. He can act as cool and expressive as his time when playing in the film Top Gun (1986). In addition, the comedic elements and cheerful nuances that stand out in this film also allow us to see the humorous side of Tom Cruise.

American Made is also not a boring biopic like other similar films. Doug Liman and screenwriter Gary Spinelli dare to make a story that is not "straight" and serious like most biopic films. It must be admitted that both of them have succeeded in making biopic films that are both light and entertaining. The dialogue is made as light and dense as possible. There is no dialogue or long narration that is not important like most biopic films.

The flow back and forth is also presented uniquely through a combination of the main chronology with VHS recordings aka Barry Seal's vlogs. Maybe the VHS scene is a bit confusing at first. But you will understand as the film progresses.

While American Made provides another alternative to storytelling a biopic, there are some parts that are actually confusing and invite questions. There are a number of sub-plots that shouldn't exist. One of them is the existence of the character of the Sheriff of the City of Mena. His appearance is honestly not that important and actually makes this film almost look ambiguous.

Another uniqueness of this film is the historical storytelling that is made as interesting as possible. This historical storytelling is often an obstacle for some biopic films because they are considered boring and make you sleepy. Well, the historical chronology in American Made is made with unique and funny illustrations filled with narration from Tom Cruise. You will also find some footage of the press conference of the American president Ronald Reagan which makes the old school impression even more pronounced.

Cinematography is indeed one of the most prominent aspects. This film dares to play with warm colors and natural camera play that doesn't look out of place in a fast-paced scenario. All thanks to cinematographer Cesar Charlone, who previously won an Oscar nomination for City of God.

The game's sound effects are also quite helpful for this film to get the impression of old school and humor. The choice of music used is actually not quite special. However, this makes American Made a film that doesn't take too long and is in accordance with its portion.

Overall American Made is an unusual biopic. This film successfully entertained the audience with a unique and interesting storytelling style. It's all thanks to Tom Cruise who managed to prove that he wasn't finished with his cool performance which made us all optimistic about the Top Gun sequel . The role of director Doug Liman also has a big influence on this film through his slick direction plus a competent production team. Of course, this can be a consideration for you to watch a movie that starts tomorrow (25/8).

Actually American Made is not the first in this regard. You can see examples of biopics with a similar method in the Gold film that Viki discussed before. If that's a bad example, you can see a better example in The Wolf of Wall Street . Unfortunately , American Made doesn't really highlight the moral elements that are brought in The Wolf of Wall Street , which makes this film a little less emotional.

At least, we have Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise again.