Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Tom Cruise | ... | Barry Seal | |
Domhnall Gleeson | ... | Monty 'Schafer' | |
Sarah Wright | ... | Lucy Seal | |
Jesse Plemons | ... | Sheriff Downing | |
Caleb Landry Jones | ... | JB | |
Lola Kirke | ... | Judy Downing | |
Jayma Mays | ... | Dana Sibota | |
Alejandro Edda | ... | Jorge Ochoa | |
Benito Martinez | ... | James Rangel | |
E. Roger Mitchell | ... | Agent Craig McCall | |
Jed Rees | ... | Louis Finkle | |
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Fredy Yate | ... | Carlos Lehder (as Fredy Yate Escobar) |
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Mauricio Mejía | ... | Pablo Escobar |
Robert Farrior | ... | Oliver North | |
Morgan Hinkleman | ... | Christina |
Barry Seal was just an ordinary pilot who worked for TWA before he was recruited by the CIA in 1978. His work in South America eventually caught the eye of the Medellín Cartel, associated with Pablo Escobar, who needed a man with his skill set. Barry became a drug trafficker, gun smuggler and money launderer. Soon acquiring the title, 'The gringo that always delivers'. Written by Viir khubchandani
Always reliable if not exactly visionary, director Doug Liman has another entertaining outing with Tom Cruise, reinventing his charm, swagger and grin as tools for finding easy cash and marital respect when honest work doesn't exactly get one far enough.
Cruise plays a totally reprehensible and despicable character and yet manages to keep everyone invested in the ride that accelerates with every misstep on the way, fully captivating the audience to wait for the extent of the looming train wreck. Cruise is entirely game here, not once trying to make audience feel sorry for his character or thinking that maybe he had a heart of gold, after all.
Worth pointing out is also a stellar turn from a less prolific Domhnall Gleeson whose ambitious CIA operator is equally blind, naive and brilliant, and Gleeson makes his oily presence wonderfully effective.