American Made (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #30.1 extract: American Made (2017)

Whilst this isn't a masterpiece, I can't find a single fault in this movie. Liman is clearly going for the Goodfellas vibe; it's obvious in the script and in the playful directorial approach. This means that American Made glorifies good old American values such as hard work, family, smarts and bravery with a blind eye to all notions of ethics and morality. Reveling in corruption and anarchy, this is then solid fun with strong, highly likeable characters, descent structure, sharp editing and ok cinematography. Cruise in particular does a great job as the anti-hero, or the devil on your shoulder, that makes you disregard the realities of his evil. This film, much like The Wolf Of Wall Street and Goodfellas, is ultimately like a court jester who jabs at real, open wounds, but somehow has you giggling in fits. 

All this lacks is that secret ingredient, that something special, that Scorsese injects into the likes of Goodfellas. Beyond this, I have nothing bad to say about this movie.