Monday, August 31, 2015

Movie Monday: American Ultra (Spoilers)


American Ultra is a new action-comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart as a stoner couple. Life is normal until a government douchebag sends some agent douchebags to kill the stoner causing him to discover that he was actually a government experiment all this time capable of killing people with household items. I think I've seen this somewhere before. Anyway, let's take a trip to American Ultra!

  I can be Lex Luthor. I can be Lex Luthor. I can be Lex Luthor!

Meet our resident druggie, Mike Howell. Mike Howell works as a convenient store clerk trying to work up the nerve to propose to his girlfriend, Phoebe Larson. Aww, how sweet! Wait, Mike and Phoebe? I see what you did there, movie.

What he doesn't know is that he's actually a former asset of the CIA who now has a target on his back because he tried to leave the city, but couldn't due to panic attacks. More on that and why it's a certain someone else's fault later. For right now, Mike is a lean, mean, fighting machine who can kill people with a spoon! I don't care if that's physically possible or not, he stabbed a guy in the neck with a fucking spoon!

Eisenberg is enjoyable throughout the entire movie. I don't think there was really anyone to call that into question. He can be funny, he can be serious, and he can be a straight up badass! Especially near the end with all the bruises and scars Mike gets, he ends up looking like the Frankenstein monster. Which is appropriate. Nothing bad to say.

  Is she smiling?

  My god. Emotion! Raw, honest to goodness, actual human emotion!

Joking aside, Kristen Stewart actually doesn't suck in this movie. I don't know if it's the genre, sharing the screen with Eisenberg, or Stewart improved somewhat since her Twilight days, but I didn't hate what I saw.

Phoebe lives with Mike and have been his girlfriend for as long as he can remember. Their on- screen chemistry is great, and they feel like a genuine couple. The fact that both actors have worked together before only further cements that fact. Phoebe is pretty much the 'straight man' to Eisenberg comedic aspects, and that works surprisingly well.

Now, what we come to find out later is that Phoebe is actually his handler from the CIA, but she chose to throw that all away to be with him. That's sweet. One question, why are you letting him try to leave town? While they don't come right out with it, I think it's implied that the reason Mike has panic attacks when he tries to leave is because he's not supposed to. Why does Phoebe get angry, and why doesn't she try to dissuade him from not leaving if it's going to bring attention to him? The whole reason the CIA goes after him is because he tried to leave. HELLO!

If it wasn't for the plot twist, this wouldn't be an issue, but there was a plot twist, so that makes it a big deal, and we don't get any explainable whatsoever! Apart from that, she's fine.

  I left East Dillon for this shit!

Victoria Lasseter works for the CIA and was the woman behind the 'Ultra' program that created Mike Howell. She gets a call from an anonymous tip that Yates is planning to eliminate Howel, and she goes out to activate him so he can defend himself. This brands her as a traitor and she ends up stuck in the town with no choice but to aid Mike further.

Despite not technically being anyone's mother, Britton has very much been placed into a mother-figure role. Just the length she goes through the entire movie to keep Mike alive is a lot how a mother would behave. He even asks at one point in the movie if she is his mother. I'm kind of surprise the movie didn't have her as his biological mother. Nothing wrong with it, there just isn't much else to talk about.

  Dumbass!

Eric Foreman Adrian Yates is another member of the CIA, and our resident asshole. He's in charge of the operation to take out Mike and send in his own Ultras to do it. These Ultras were taken from the insane asylum, so they're not only crazy, they're reckless, and cause a big scene wherever they go, and then he acts surprise why everything goes to shit.

Now, all I can see is Eric in this performance, only with him being more of an asshole than usual. I kept expecting Hyde to jump out and go, “What happened to you, man?” He plays the part of the asshole great, though. You really do want him to die, and it's oh so satisfying seeing Britton's character strangle him. She doesn't get to kill him, but it's still satisfying to watch.

  Clean up on aisle five.

The action is decent. I was never bored while watching it. The use of fireworks killing people in the climax is pretty creative, though you knew that was coming the second they brought them in. I like how Mike use household items to kill people, but we've seen that before. The Equalizer come to mind, except we don't get anything nearly as dramatic as killing a guy with a nail gun.

Comedy kind of falls flat, sorry to say. Most of the funny moments were seen in the trailer. After that? I can't remember too many scenes where I was laughing. American Ultra takes itself a little more seriously than you would expect going in. That's a crying shame because this is one of those movies you wish would go over the top in its goofiness. The hero doesn't even get to kill the bad guy, he dies from some higher up guy who doesn't come in until the end.

  She never uses that shotgun in the whole movie, by the way.

So, the villain is dead, the CIA decides to bring Mike in as an agent, and the two live happily ever after while Mike goes around killing bad guys. The end. Is it a terrible movie? No. Could it have been better? Probably, but it is what it is. If you like Eisenberg and Stewart, or just Eisenberg, you may get some enjoyment out of it. Otherwise, it's hard to say. I'm Ayen, and that's American Ultra. See you next week.

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