Review of American Ultra (2015) by Charles S — 04 Jul 2017

This movie is energetic and violent and bloody... everything I love in a movie. Yet somehow, I didn't love it. This movie takes the idea behind the Jason Bourne series and turns it on its head by casting Jesse Eisenberg as the main badass.

That's kind of fun, and I can go with it. Then it's filmed with high energy and humor that reminded me a little of "Kingsman" (which if you follow this feed, you know I am obsessed with).

So that's all good too. But the overall product just did not resonate with me. And it's not Kristen Stewart, who normally makes me cringe. She's fine in this. So why didn't I love it? I think it's because it's just too derivative of other films.

It's also not nearly funny enough. If you take a Jason Bourne premise and cast Jesse Eisenberg as the lead, it better be funny. That's why "Kingsman" worked so well, it was both a spy movie and a parody of a spy movie.

There isn't any satire with this film, so it doesn't work as well as it should have. The chemistry between Eisenberg and Stewart is great (see "Adventureland" for further evidence), the movie is well edited and paced at an hour and half, and the direction is dynamic.

..but it wasn't enough to captivate me. It's a fun little action movie, but it was just okay for me.