Morally dubious film picks the wrong side of history to “gloss over.”
A pilot lands work for the CIA and as a drug runner in the south during the 1980s.
A lot happens in this film, but very little of it progress the plot or advances character development. The way it’s written makes light-heartedness of the drug-crisis and a war. It makes you feel sorry for terrible people (including Drug-lord Pablo Escobar) and attempts to do it in a dramedy. Really, I’m not sure why Tom Cruise picked this script. It seems to encourage the “whatever works” to make money motto and you can do anything in America - even drug trafficking. Tom Cruise is too likeable to play a villain - so they made a historical “villain” a likeable lead. Cruise’s Southern accent is also all over the place, having absolutely no consistency.
The supporting cast is good, but the direction is lacking. The trailer makes this movie out to be a comedy, while there are laughable moments I’m not sure if they were purposeful or not.
Overall, best to avoid.
1.5 Stars
Review by Benjamin Maio Mackay
Screening courtesy of Universal Entertainment