I was looking for an easy film to watch. One that I wouldn't mind missing a few minutes of viewing on when the little one demanded attention without feeling the need to rewind. Given the premise and the reviews I read prior to watching it, I decided to go with American Ultra.
Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) and Phoebe Larson (Kristen Stewart) live in the small town of Liman, West Virginia. A dedicated stoner, Mike is happy living in with Phoebe and working as a convenience store clerk, which gives him plenty of time to work on his drawings. After a botched attempt to travel to Hawaii due to his fear of leaving town, Mike tries to find the right time to propose to the ever-patient Phoebe. Meanwhile, CIA Agent Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton) receives word that rival agent Adrian Yates (Topher Grace) has initiated a mission to assassinate Mike, who turns out to be the only successful product of the Ultra Program. Yates uses his own trained Tough Guy Program assets to execute his plans. Lasseter attempts to activate Mike using the programmed code words so that he can recover his memories and his long dormant fighting skill set, but trying to activate a former super soldier who is currently super stoned is more difficult than it seems.
American Ultra received mostly so-so reviews, primarily because the plot isn't really all that original and it's easy to predict how it would play out. But I wasn't looking for an award-winner, and aiming more for a fun film. And when you don't set much expectations, then American Ultra can be just that.
If there's one thing that American Ultra got right, it's the cast that it featured. Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart are on point as stoners, and they have built on the chemistry that they established in their first collaboration, Adventureland. Topher Grace is excellent as the annoying CIA agent in charge of eliminating the sole success story of the Ultra Program, and every time his plans go awry strikes a chord of satisfaction in me. I had initially thought that Walter Goggins was woefully underused as the single dimension Tough Guy Program asset Laugher, but I was surprised at feeling sympathy for him near the end of the film. It's obvious that the cast understood that this is meant to be a fun film and not to be taken seriously, and it greatly helped in conveying the so-so storytelling.
While the humor portrayed in the film added to its appeal, it's meant to be an adrenaline-inducing action film. The fight scenes aren't entirely original as well, but at least they were appropriate to the story they were telling. The people in American Ultra fight dirty, so the fight scenes are usually a slug fest that you either applaud or cause you to wince, although the latter doesn't really cause much for concern.
There really isn't much more to say about American Ultra. While not exactly a must-watch, it isn't a waste of viewing time. Oh, I do have one gripe, though, the final scenes were meant to be set in the Philippines, but there wasn't a single Filipino character to be found.
Fun and a little more than okay viewing with this one.Labels: Action, American Ultra, Comedy, Film
