Just as Hollywood business continues to gather steam with the box-office success of IT and Kingsman following a long, sluggish spell, superstar Tom Cruise readies to condense it with his latest outing, American Made.
Based on a true story, the crime-action film sees the 55-year old returning to his beat – gut-wrenching, exhilarating action adventure, pulling off some deathly stunts which is so a child’s play for him.
American Made may be the sole English release right now on 29 September, 2017, but there are reasons more compelling than that to watch it in a cinema house. Here’s some.
Because it’s Tom Cruise!
Come on, one just cannot dislike Cruise. The actor is one of the most likeable there is, winning hearts ever since he entered the fray over three decades ago, and even the neutrals cannot resist watching his movies.
Mission Impossible series, Rain Man, Minority Report, Jack Reacher, War of the Worlds etc. are some of his evergreen films that never fail to give the screaming abdabs everytime you watch them. But it isn’t only in the story, but the performance delivered by Cruise that makes it all the more gripping.
Whether it’s taking a leap from the world’s tallest building Bhurj Khalifa, or hanging on to a gigantic aeroplane during the take-off, or evading bulletshots by whizzing down on a bike through trails of flame, there’s nothing that Cruise hasn’t done to take our breath away.
And even as the Ol’ Father Time catches up with him, he shows no signs of stopping!
The mere fact that American Made stars Tom Cruise in the lead should be reason enough for you to head to the theatres.
Stunning visual effects
Tom Cruise means (a lot of) action, and (a lot of) action means (heavy) visual effects!
Director Doug Liam (The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith) is no new to fiery explosions, aerial sequences, or mountain-top leaps. And with American Made, the film-maker returns to his thriving zone after a long hiatus.
The VFX for the movie are done by Mr.X, supervised by Craig Calvert and Scott Riopelle. The Toronto-based studios have weighed in with some flawless effects – planes flown over seas, Cruise crash landing, the firecrackers, house exploding, car bust-ups, and who knows what else!
So make sure you hold on to your seats thoughout the course, for this is going to leave you in splits.
Intriguing plot-line
In case you weren’t aware already, American Made is based on the life of Barry Seal, a former Trans World Airlines pilot who turned into a drug smuggler for the ruthless Colombian drug trafficking organisation, Madellin Cartel, in the late 1970s.
Seal began smuggling small quantities of marijuana in 1976, but later flew hoards of cocaine across the border and into Mexico. On being apprehended in 1979, he became an undercover informant for the DEA to avoid the jail sentence.
The cat was later out of the bag, and Pablo Escobar, the head of the cartel, sent hitmen to assassinate him for double-crossing, bringing the undercover operation to an abrupt end.
Now go watch Tom Cruise lift the story up from the history pages.
American Made is written by Gary Spinelli and will be released by Universal Pictures.