AMERICAN ULTRA – The Review

So we’re finally in the last stretch of Summer, the slow march to reach the (hopefully) cooler temps just past Labor Day. And along with those Fall breezes will come the more, somber award-worthy films. But there’s still time for a bit of mayhem to squeeze into those final August days. And mayhem seems to be the main purpose of this new release hitting the multiplex. Its main character is on a mission (not for a microchip or some, such macguffin, but to survive along with his gal) and many assassins are mowed down along with even more property damage (they blow up good). But unlike Ethan Hunt or Mad Max, he’s not aware of his “particular set of skills” at the movie’s beginning. Like Clark Kent, is he meek and “mild-mannered”? Well, more like meek and “mellow”, thanks to some tasty herbs. And he’s played by an actor mostly known for his cerebral characters, rather than as muscled men of action. But, be ready for “Really Rough R-rated” violence, “ultra-violence”, you could say, in the appropriately titled AMERICAN ULTRA.

Mike Holland (Jesse Eisenberg) and Phoebe Larson (Kristen Stewart) are laid back twenty-somethings living in a sleepy Ohio town. He spends his days doodling the comic strip adventures of “Apollo Ape” while manning the register at the “Cash and Carry” convenience store, while she is the receptionist/secretary for a bail bondsman. They spends their evenings enjoying each other along with lots and lots of weed. But Mike wants more and plans to marry his “Feebs” in Hawaii until a last-minute panic attack sends them back to their ramshackle home. Meanwhile at CIA headquarters Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton) is tipped off by an anonymous source that her pet project will be terminated. This is confirmed after she confronts fellow agency supervisor Adrian Yates (Topher Grace). Victoria, aided by her “go-to-guy” Petey (Tony Hale), dashes away to stop the “scrub” operation. Back at work, Mike’s night shift is interrupted by the sight of two fellas tinkering with his “beater” car. When he confronts them, they pull out some heavy-firepower artillery. And then something…snaps within Mike. Thus begins a long,desperate night that finds Mike and Phoebe facing insurmountable odds in a fight for their lives.

The usually reserved Eisenberg makes a convincing, if reluctant, deadly whirling dervish. He seems much more comfortable as the love-struck, anxiety-ridden stoner, but then that may be more in line with previous screen roles. After the switch in his brain has been flipped, Mike is in a constant state of confused agitation, not knowing what reflexes will suddenly kick-in. Eisenberg plays it more sweet than snarky especially in scenes opposite his ADVENTURELAND love interest Stewart. As Phoebe, she’s equal parts caregiver (very understanding of Mike’s odd ticks and anxieties), partner (not bad at taking on the baddies), and lover (this has to be the ultimate relationship test). Stewart and Eisenberg really connect with an easy chemistry which allows her to be a bit more natural on-screen than with many previous film partners. And it’s great that she’s not reduced to another “damsel-in-distress” and is allowed to get truly down and dirty with the fellas, at times looking like an extra from THE EVIL DEAD flicks. Speaking of ladies getting to play in the action “sandbox”, hurrah for the casting of Britton, who gets to break away from her usual big screen matriarch roles. She still gets to be concerned and caring, but it’s tempered here with a whip-smart, no-backing-down persona. That ‘spunk” serves her well in the scenes opposite the screaming, spitting Grace whose venomous tirades would cut most folks to ribbons. We can’t wait for this slick-suited weasel to get her “just deserts”. Walton Goggins shows up as the most deranged and sadistic of all the “hench-persons”, the gleeful “Laugher”, while Hale scores many laughs as Britton’s frantic, frightened “pencil-pushing” partner back at HQ. But the film’s loudest guffaws come from John Leguizamo as Mike’s motor-mouthed, street-slang slinging dealer/pal “Rose”. He just destroys every scene with his scatter-shot, energetic delivery. He’s quite the MVP of this flick.

The script by Max Landis (CHRONICLE) throws elements of THE MATRIX, KICK-ASS, SUPER, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, and the Jason Bourne flicks into a blender, and mixes up a cocktail that’s often sweet, but usually tart to the point of sour. The Mike/Phoebe romance is nearly drowned in a sea of gore and gunplay. As in the recent thriller THE EQUALIZER, Mike is adept at using everyday objects as weapons which lead, of course, to a big, bloody showdown in, of course, a big box store (“Clean-up in hardware aisle 7”). After the “found-footage” party hi-jinks of PROJECT X, director Nima Nourizadeh shows that he can keep the hits, and destruction, coming, but the film, after a promising first act, just seems to lurch from one blood-splattered set-piece to the next with the character development lost among the rapidly growing body count. The audience is finally numbed as we wait until things finally quiet down. Hey the ghouls in ZOMBIELAND got off easy compared to the creeps that Eisenberg dispatches here. There may be a way to make stoner/sleeper agents entertaining, but AMERICAN ULTRA bogarts the bloody bullet-filled blunt and ends up being a nasty bad trip, man.

2.5 Out of 5