Director: Doug Liman
Year Released: 2017
Rating: 2.0
TWA pilot Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) gets recruited by the CIA (embodied by Domhnall Gleeson's agent) to deliver arms to the right-wing Contra rebels in Nicaragua so they can fight against the Sandinistas ... and for some side cash, airdrops cocaine from Columbia to the United States for the Medallín cartel (controlled by Pablo Escobar and company). There have been more than a few of these types of movies made of late - including Argo, Kill the Messenger, etc. - and this doesn't offer much in terms of groundbreaking information (Reagan and George H. W. Bush knew about it ... big whoop) or provide any sort of examination of the problems in South America - it begins with the (over-used) line "based on a true story" but Liman admitted it's "a fun lie" (in other words: lots of 'creative freedom' is going on here, and the Agency's actual involvement in these matters is up for debate). Cruise is cool and casual in a typically Cruise-ian way ... and not that far removed from his days playing Brian Flanagan in Cocktail: instead of flipping tumblers he's flipping airplanes (cheers to zero gravity sex!).
