American Ultra – movie review

Talk about creative writing that starts out in one tone and suddenly becomes something entirely unexpected. That’s what you get if you know nothing about American Ultra when you enter the cinema.

Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) spends most of his time getting stoned, sitting behind the register of the local convenience store and writing a never-to-be-published graphic novel about a superhero monkey. Someday he’d like to take his bail-bondsman girlfriend, Phoebe (Kristen Stewart), to Hawaii. But that is only if he can ever overcome the inexplicable panic attacks he experiences whenever he tries to leave the city limits. He thinks he’s the luckiest man alive to have her in his life and would love to find the perfect time to ask her to marry him, only that time never seems to come. But here’s the kicker: unbeknown to Mike, he is actually a sleeper agent created by the CIA, which has just targeted him for termination. As some of the agency’s deadliest assets are unleashed upon his sleepy town, Mike’s sympathetic former handler, Lasseter (Connie Britton), activates his latent skills, turning the mild-mannered slacker into a superhuman killing machine. As Mike’s once-simple life becomes an adrenaline-fueled chase, no one is more surprised than he is to discover his uncanny ability to turn even an ordinary spoon into a weapon of destruction. With an obsessed agent (Topher Grace) hot on his heels, the newly reborn super-assassin summons his inner action-hero to try and save himself and Phoebe from being eliminated.

So it is that American Ultra becomes a violent, fast-paced action comedy about this seemingly hapless, unmotivated pothead with remarkable powers. What starts out as a charming little indie film about a quirky character morphs into a different world. The director is Nima Nourizadeh, who earned accolades in Hollywood for his 2012 debut film, Project X. The script is from Max Landis, son of The Blues Brothers’ director John Landis.

The inspiration was a real-life CIA attempt to create mega warriors that lasted three decades. The formerly covert program, known as MK Ultra, was launched in the 1950s in an effort to turn ordinary citizens into superhero-level operatives. Using psychotropic drugs to enhance psychological conditioning, better known as torture, government scientists treated the human brain like a computer. They attempted to radically reprogram their subjects to be the most effective and dangerous agents possible. The endeavour to churn out a generation of Jason Bourne-like super assassins failed miserably.

“You can wipe a hard drive, but when you wipe a human brain, it tends to break,” says Landis. “I became a little obsessed with what I learned. I kept thinking, what if a regular guy got involved? How would he react? That spawned American Ultra.” What has emerged out of all of this is a real hoot, a wild ride, which becomes ridiculous and extremely far-fetched, but remains a whole heap of fun.

Jesse Eisenberg has shown before that he can mix it with the best of them when it comes to his acting prowess, but he is hardly the type you would expect to inhabit the role of action hero. How wrong we were! Dare I say he may be one of the only actors who could bring credibility to an incredulous doper. Kristen Stewart is very much the faithful assistant. She is capable of much more, but then that is not what this script calls for and she does everything expected of her on the bit.

So, American Ultra is pure popcorn entertainment with the surprise twist near the start undoubtedly its high point. Thereafter, it turns the tables on slick spy films, highlighting the ineptitude of agencies that are supposedly there to keep us safe.

Rated MA, American Ultra scores a 7 out of 10.

Director: Nima Nourizadeh
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Topher Grace and Kristen Stewart
Release date: 3 September 2015
Rated: MA 15+

Alex First