Director: Nima Nourizadeh
Writer: Max Landis
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Connie Britton | See full cast & crew »
American Ultra (2015) Movie Reviews
Marijuana Required.
27 November 2015 | by kdavies-69347 (Bangkok) – See all my reviews
Following the lines of stoner films like Pineapple Express, American Ultra delivers an action film with some big names. However, you'll need to get stoned to enjoy this film.
It's got a simple enough plot line. Gas store employee/stoner and all around skinny guy Mike Howell (Eisenburg), with his similar looking and just as mannish girlfriend Phoebe (Stewart), discover that he is a secret CIA super soldier.
Hilarity ensues... kind of.
Actually it was the lack of humor in this film that I found to be the biggest let down. There were very few actual jokes or funny moments, despite being classified as an action-comedy. It starts off very dramatically, when we meet the main character Mike in prison, and being interviewed by some CIA bigwig. The classic in the middle of things beginning flashes back to it's slowly progressing action plot line. I enjoyed the action bits, and they tried to keep it pumped up with lots of bullets and blood (spoon kill!), but there were very few funny moments at all.
As an action guy, Eisenburg's lackluster fighting style emphasizes the fact that it looks like he hasn't ever done a push-up in his life. The characters had pretty terrible banter between each other. It seemed that they were trying to out do each other with sarcastic wit, including the CIA operatives. Topher Grace, who played the major antagonist, came off as some sort of hipster-yuppie-douche despite being the head of a major CIA operation.
Storyline
Small-town stoner Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) spends most of his time getting high and writing a graphic novel about a superhero monkey. What Mike doesn't know is that he was trained by the CIA to be a lethal killing machine. When the agency targets him for termination, his former handler activates his latent skills, turning the mild-mannered slacker into a deadly weapon. Now, the utterly surprised Mike must use his newfound abilities to save himself and his girlfriend from getting wasted. Written by Mr.Moiz
