Review of American Ultra (2015) by John W — 10 Jan 2016

Review:

This movie had a decent concept but I personally think that the director picked the wrong actors to play the major roles. I've always thought that Jesse Eisenberg is one toned and he hasn't really got much screen charisma, so to pick him to play a super human, was a weird choice. As I didn't know anything about this film, I couldn't really see were it was going at the beginning but once it gets going I was surprised with the outcome. The movie is about a loving couple, Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) and Phoebe Larson (Kristen Stewart), who live in a small town in West Virginia. Whilst getting on with his day to day job in a convenience store, Mike is being watched by CIA Agent, Victoria (Connie Britton) as her rival, Adrian Yates (Topher Grace) plans to eliminate him because he is the sole survivor of her Ultra program. As Adrian's Tough Guy project was a success, Victoria gets demoted in her job and she goes out of her way to make sure that Mike is safe. She travels to West Virginia and she activates Mike by using a series of key words and while he's on his break, he sights 2 men planting something on his car so he uses his, unknown, skills to kill Adrian's henchmen. He then calls Phoebe in a panic because he has killed two individuals and when she arrives at the scene, they get arrested and taken to the local police station. Whilst locked up, Adrian sends out more henchmen to kill them but they manage to escape and they go to there friends house, Rose (John Leguizamo), who puts them in quarantine when he sees that they are wanted on TV. More of Adrian henchmen are sent to Roses house and they take out Rose and his friends and pump lethal gas into the quarantine room. When Phoebe saves Mike from the lethal gas, Mike starts to question her about her knowledge of the gas and she finally admits that she is a CIA agent, which leaves him heartbroken. When Adrian's henchmen ambush the couple, they capture Phoebe and leave Mike for dead but he is saved by Victoria and brought back to his house. Victoria tells him that he volunteered for the Ultra program, due to his criminal record and that he had his memory erased. Phoebe was only supposed to help him settle in West Virginia but she genuinely fell in love with him, so Mike goes on a mission to save her. After taking out most of Adrian's henchmen with fireworks, he finally gets to rescue his woman and he proposes to her on the spot. Victoria convinces her superiors to save Mike's life because he has shown that he is an valuable asset but Adrian is killed, due to his disobedience. Six months later, Mike and Phoebe are working together in the Philippines on an assignment and there love couldn't be any stronger. There are many different elements to the storyline but it just lacked wit and style. John Leguizamo was quite funny and Topher Grace played an convincing villain but the other characters were straight laced and they never brought originality to the project. The chemistry between Stewart and Eisenberg was believable and if it was an ordinary love story, they would have been the perfect choice but for an action movie, they just didn't fit the bill. Apart from that, it's a watchable film with some decent action scenes but it could have been much better. Average!

Round-Up:

Judging by the lose that this movie made at the box office, I doubt that were going to see a sequel anytime soon, which is a shame because the concept wasn't bad. Jesse Eisenberg, 32, has also been chosen to play Lex Luther in the latest Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie, which is also a weird choice and a bit out of his comfort zone, so I can't wait to see what they do with that. I'm looking forward to seeing Now You See Me 2 because I enjoyed the first movie, mainly because of the top class cast, so Jesse can put this movie down to a bad day at the office. This movie was directed by Nima Nourizadeh, 38, who also brought you Project X in 2012. It was written by Max Landis, 30, who also wrote Chronicle and Victor Frankenstein with Daniel Radcliffe and James McCavoy so he also can put this film firmly behind him. If they were thinking of making a sequel, they should think about using the budget to get some big names in the major roles because I personally think that, that was what let this movie down.

Budget: $28million.

Worldwide Gross: $15.5million.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/comedies starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, John Leguizamo and Bill Pullman. 4/10.