Wild fact-based story of a TWA pilot (Tom Cruise)
recruited by a CIA operative (Domhnall Gleeson) in the early 1980s to fly guns
to the U.S.-backed contra forces fighting the Sandinista government in
Nicaragua. Diverted from this mission by the chance to smuggle cocaine for the
leaders of the nascent Medellin drug cartel (Alejandro Edda and Mauricio
Mejia), he develops an elaborate scheme to supply the weapons to the gangsters
and the narcotics to the guerrillas — who, it turns out, would rather get rich
than fight. The immense wealth he amasses as a result delights his loyal wife
(Sarah Wright Olsen) but draws the suspicion of local (Jesse Plemons) and
national (E. Roger Mitchell) law enforcement officials. Director Doug Liman and
writer Gary Spinelli revel in the improbability of their tale and the
law-flouting skills of their protagonist. But after further complications set
in, they try to have it both ways where the white powder is concerned,
condemning government hypocrisy while letting the flyboy off the hook. Add to
this ambivalence their explicit portrayal of the passionate nature of the
central pair's bond and the constant vulgarity that marks the script, and the
result is a free-for-all that makes apt fun for few.
Watch out for: Strong
sexual content, including graphic scenes of marital lovemaking, a glimpse of
full nudity and implied aberrant behavior, some stylized combat and other
violence, a drug theme, several uses of profanity and pervasive rough and much
crude language.
Rated: L, limited adult
audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling;
MPAA: R
© Arlington Catholic Herald 2017