American Ultra (2015) – Review

You take a former CIA agent who can not remember his past (the Bourne films), let him work as a stoner in a small supermarket (Clerks), then send a number of people out to eliminate him (Terminator), which triggers the agent to know exactly what he must do to survive (The Equalizer). Add a little bit of romance to it and the result is American Ultra, with Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart in the lead roles.

The film seems to be a hodgepodge of ideas from other films and the question is whether this results in a successful film. The answer is that it only partially is. Eisenberg and Stewart, who previously worked together in Adventureland, have a convincing chemistry as junkies. Stewart as Phoebe Larson is the one who keeps everything under control and Eisenberg as Mike Howell, the nervous boyfriend who throws up once he leaves town. That initial setup is done well and the dynamic between the two is set up properly. This also is the case when it comes to the various fights Mike gets involved in. These are very dynamic, but also very graphic and where he often uses everyday objects to kill someone (such as a spoon).

Based on the trailer and the posters would you expect the film to be a stoner action comedy in the vein of, for example Pineapple Express, but that is not the case. The stoner element is only present at the beginning of the film and it is rarely used for jokes. Once Mike finds out that he can do things he did not know previously that element disappears and the film changes into a Bourne movie where he seems in control in almost every situation. Another part of the film revolves around the political dynamics within the CIA between those who wish to terminate Mike and whoever wants to save him, but those moments add very little to the story. At the end of the movie, I felt that I had seen an entertaining film, but one that I will forget very quickly. The film contained less humor than I expected and I would have preferred a more complex story.