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!
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.
Try it
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