American Ultra (2015)
Action, Comedy
Directed By: Nima Nourizadeh
If there is one kind of movie that has been missing from
modern releases it’s the wacky hard R action flick. Something we saw quite
often in the eighties and early nineties with such films as Escape From New York and The Warriors, we rarely get to see films
of this nature anymore. The out of this world, insane, hard R action movie has
somewhat died out in recent years but the new film American Ultra aims to bring it back. Written by the eccentric and
wonderfully zany Max Landis (Chronicle)
and directed by Nima Nourizadeh (Project
X) this film is everything you could want out of an eighties action movie,
brought into modern times and with modern sensibilities.
Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) is a quiet stoner that keeps
mostly to himself living in West Virginia with his amazing girlfriend Phoebe
(Kristen Stewart). The two have a seemingly great relationship, except when
Mike suffers from his unexplainable extreme anxiety, keeping them from ever
taking vacations or even leaving their town. We quickly find out that he was
once a subject of government testing and is in fact a highly trained agent of
the CIA, though he has no idea of this himself. When the order is sent out to
terminate him the one person who can do anything about it quickly moves to
activate the dormant asset. Now Mike must use the training he never knew he had
to save his own life as a swarm of government assassins descend on his small
West Virginia town.
On the surface American Ultra may seem like a by-the-books
stoner action/comedy but once you really dig into it the film becomes so much
more. I love what Max Landis is able to do as a writer, he is finding a way to
add a true human element to his fantastical stories. He did it incredibly with
Dane DeHaan's character in Chronicle
and his abusive home life and now he has done it with Ultra. Once you boil away
all of the jokes and action set pieces this movie is a story of true love, and
a pretty damn good one at that. Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart strike
incredible chemistry again (see them in Adventureland, I think it is wonderful)
and the two really suck you into the passion their two characters feel for each
other.
That being said, the action and the comedy in this movie are
pretty fantastic. They don't waste much time in the beginning before moving
right into the excitement. It takes roughly fifteen minutes before we get to
see Howell in action for the first time, and it is great. He has the ability to
kill just about anyone who comes after him, yet he has no idea HOW he can do
this. This dynamic makes just about every action set piece entirely unique. His
reactions to the things he has done adds a different level of emotion that we
don't typically get to see in these particular movies and Eisenberg sells it
perfectly.
The film doesn't miss a comedic beat and with a great script
and good acting this is one that I feel will be remembered well with time.
Kristen Stewart is actually a big source of laughs throughout the movie as she
is basically us as we are watching this ridiculous stoner somehow mutilate and
kill dozens of trained government agents. She is the voice of reason and she
almost bluntly says what we are all thinking. Eisenberg may be the lead but I
felt this movie hinged on her performance and she was as good as she has ever
been, all of the emotion I felt watching this came directly from her and her
relationship with Eisenberg's character. It would also be criminal not to
mention John Leguizamo who has a small role as their drug dealer and ends up
taking some of the biggest laughs of the movie.
With support from other familiar faces like Connie Britton
and Topher Grace as well as the cameo of the year at the end of the film this
is an all-around fun movie. It has an out-of-the-box idea, that is actually
rooted in truth (google the MKUltra program) and is executed in such a way that
we haven't seen done before. After seeing this I am now on board for anything
Max Landis writes, he is creating completely original ideas in worlds we
already know and it is fantastic. If you are looking for something completely
different than anything else you have seen this year go check out this movie, I
have a feeling a lot of you will feel the same way I do about it.
As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches
Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!
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