American Ultra (2015)
Rated R
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Connie Britton, Topher Grace, John Leguizamo, Walton Goggins, Bill Pullman
Directed by Nima Nourizadeh
The Story:
Mike (Eisenberg) is a stoner who works a dead-end job at the local convenience store while drawing his graphic novel about an ape with super-powers. His girlfriend, Phoebe (Stewart) seems to love him a great deal, but he fears he's going to lose her because he can't seem to get past the phobia of leaving their dreary little existence. Then one fateful evening, a woman (Britton) says some words to him and it unlocks memories and skills that transform Mike into the ultimate secret sleeper agent killer for the CIA. These skills might just help him survive an assassination attempt by the CIA to get rid of him once and for all.
So, watching this movie and it all seemed vaguely familiar. Then I put my finger on it, this is pretty much the tv show, Chuck.
Fair enough. I enjoyed that show.
Sleeper agent assassin who is an amazing killing machine. That they put him into the body of Jesse Eisenberg makes the situation more ironic.
However, it's a pretty fun movie.
Although, if you cannot stand Eisenberg (you know who you are) this movie would probably grate on you for the entire duration. It's also a nice chance to see Stewart doing something other than moping around and longing for vampires.
Topher Grace is hilariously evil as the CIA operative who demands Mike's death, and sends scores of agents into this town to kill him. All that was missing was the twirling of a villainous moustache.
A very fun script by Max Landis and great direction by Nima Nourizadeh makes this one a much more enjoyable experience than Nima's last effort, Project X, had been.
Overall a pretty fun viewing experience and with a few tweaks (possibly including recasting Eisenberg and Stewart who have little chemistry together) this could have been even better.
Final Grade: B-
