American Ultra

By: Robert Murphy

The years have been kind to stoner movies, they've become less of a looked down upon genre and have made their way into the main stream media in recent years as marijuana itself has become less of a hot button issue. Spy movies however have always been a part of the world and have their own messy history, the James Bond films being among my favorites where others have proven to just be nonsensical adrenaline pieces. But, what would happen if you tried to combine the high stakes action of a spy movie with the mellow humor of a stoner flick? Well, the results would be something like American Ultra.

I am in no way opposed to mash ups as I've learned that they can be quite funny but they can be a tricky thing to pull off when you're trying to find a good balance for both of the genres you're putting together. When it comes to a stoner/highly tuned killing machine there is no one better than Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) who was formerly a highly skilled agent for a secret CIA project. Sadly, this portion of his life was completely wiped from his memory when the project ultimately ended and he was moved to a small town in West Virginia to live out the rest of his life in peace. Or relative peace anyways as Mike isn't exactly what you would call well adjusted since he left the CIA and he seems to proceed to screw up in most every aspect of his life except for his ideas for a cartoon series and with his girlfriend.

Not many people have the same on screen chemistry that Mike and his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart) had throughout the entirety of American Ultra. I was legitimately thrown off by this at first as it wasn't something I had expected to end up being so perfect but for some reason the two go great together. Phoebe and Mike have a rocky start at the beginning when one of his panic attacks prevents them from going on an exotic trip to Hawaii but for the rest of the movie they're a match made in heaven. The one particularly stoner moment in the movie where Mike goes on a drug addled rant about a car and a tree, ends up leading to a very romantic part for the story later on and furthered my wanting for the two to make it through to the end. 

Things go completely wrong though when the new boss of the program Mike was in decides that he is too big of a risk to be left alive. Adrian Yates (Topher Grace) proceeds to go off on an unapproved mission to take him out and prove that his new program is far superior to the one Mike was a part of at the same time. While this is somewhat understandable, the reasoning behind Yates going so entirely rogue doesn't make a lot of sense or the lengths he goes to in order to do it. Massive quarantine tents, spy drones and heavy amounts of man power are all used just to take out one man and in the end I don't think it would have gotten him too far in the CIA as he'd hoped. Topher Grace presents a sub par showing for a movie that shouldn't require too much to pull off. Half the time he's a sarcastic jerk and the other half he is a sleazy little worm trying to climb the corporate ladder but he never presents the back bone or the charm that the role required. 

This whole scenario does lead to one of the best parts of the film and that is the action scenes. Thanks to his former boss, Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton), Mike ends up getting activated so he can defend himself against all that Yates throws at him. She also doesn't fit her role entirely too well and spends half the time as a rogue agent trying to take down Yates rather than just going to her superiors to put a stop to his madness. Whatever the case, the action is top notch for many reasons but the funniest or rather most epic parts were when Mike was using everything and anything to take down the bad guys. Mike wasn't a super genius throughout the film he was just high skilled and very deadly so anything and everything became a weapon to him. Dust pans, spoons, you name it and he used it to get the job done. The entire scene involving a grocery store was particularly excellent as Mike made his way through the store, grabbing this or that and killing everything in his path.

Now, the factor of ill fitted roles however prevented me from thoroughly enjoying my "high" from American Ultra. On top of Topher Grace and Connie Britton there were a few other odd ball roles that were filled by normally great actors and when I say odd ball I mean real odd balls. Laugher (Walton Goggins) is a deranged agent that is part of Yates' new team of trained killers and warrens most of the screen time but his character was an insanely bizarre one. One second he's a sociopath and the next he's all touchy feely, it made no sense but oddly enough Goggins portrayal made me love the character and wish that he were the main bad guy in place of Yates. Then there is Mike's drug dealer Rose (John Leguizamo) who is one part pumped up wanna be player and one part paranoid nut job which sounds perfect for this sort of movie but it's really not. Rose should be a fun character but Leguizamo never plays him in the right way to make him a lovable nut job as it should be.

In the end, American Ultra has a good first hit but then you remember that it's mostly just ditch weed. Getting tired of my stoner puns? Me too, they're almost done. The films attempt to mash together heavy based action with stoner after tones is mainly successful do to excellent acting on the part of the two main co-stars, Eisenberg and Stewart. Everything else just doesn't hold together unfortunately and that's a shame because you want that strong stuff to keep you satisfied. Last one, promise. 

Good:

- Eisenberg and Stewart's on screen chemistry

- Action scenes are both exhilarating and oddly funny

Bad:

- Topher Grace as Yates among other ill fitting roles

- Strong build up but ultimately falls apart by the end

Scully Rating: 4.5 out of 10