American Ultra

Released:  August 21^st, 2015

Rated:  R

Distributor:  Lionsgate

Starring:  Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Connie Britton, Walton Goggins, John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman, Tony Hale

Directed by:  Nima Nourizadeh

Written by:  Max Landis

Personal Bias Alert:  likes genre mixing, likes the cast

7.9 of 10

            2015 is the year we find out if those guys that made Chronicle can convert their potential into long-term success.  We’ve already seen (or perhaps skipped) director Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four debacle, and now writer Max Landis is back for evaluation with American Ultra.  While it’s not hard to top Trank’s dismal follow-up, Landis very nearly hits a bullseye with this action-comedy-romance mashup, the difficulty of which proves that he’s no fleeting talent.

            Starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart as an unmotivated stoner couple, Eisenberg’s Mike instantly throws their lives into disarray when he’s activated into a stone cold killing machine.   Not that the mayhem’s entirely his fault; he is being targeted by the CIA, and his gentle nature means that death only swirls around when someone’s attacking him or Stewarts’ Phoebe.  Yes, it’s the old I-don’t-know-how-but-I’m-a-badass routine, but this bloodbath’s got a heart of gold in Mike and Phoebe’s very mature relationship.  While they are slackers, the life they’ve built together is wiser than it looks.  An early fight shows that they’re capable of handling problems with honest sensitivity, and the ensuing scenes allow them to navigate their disappointment with a complexity rarely given to couples twice their age in Hollywood.  These moments pay huge dividends once everything hits the fan, as Eisenberg and Stewart only have to exchange glances for us to be crushed by their desire to get out of this together.

            Obviously, Eisenberg and Stewart have great chemistry, but they’re just as adept at the action and the comedy.  Eisenberg excels at doing a mix of the roles we’ve seen him in before, but Stewart’s exasperated straight-man routine is the big surprise, managing to land all of the belly laughs thrown her way.  Stewart’s abilities are magnified the more she’s given to do, and she’s got a whopper of a role in Phoebe.  In comparison to these two, the rest of the characters do seem a bit flat, especially the cartoonish CIA agents played by Topher Grace and Walter Goggins.  Connie Briton, who appears as the one agent trying to help Mike, doesn’t get much more to work with than Grace or Goggins, but it’s so delightful to see Coach’s wife (sorry, that’s how I always think of her) totting around a big gun that her diminished role is forgiven.  That’s one of the little things that American Ultra gets right; it doesn’t shut its women out of the fights.  They may not be the strongest players on the field, but they step in whenever they can, refusing to be left on the sidelines of their own lives.

            And those fights are some of the bloodiest sequences I’ve seen all summer.  An array of weapons (and non-weapons) bash in skulls and draw blood using moves that are often left shockingly in frame.  The choreography does move quickly, though, giving the scenes a frantic energy that leaves you as energized and as confused as Mike is.  That makes it easy to go with the flow of what he’s being forced to do, but that flow isn’t always smooth.  The gore is overused, and there’s times during the middle section of the film that you’ll want the humor and the romance to assert itself more, but this quibble is a problem that comes with doing too much too well.

            Most films stick to one or two genres, too terrified or unsure of themselves to try for everything at once.  The difficulty in pulling off the mix makes this fear understandable, but these efforts have an upside, too.  If you get enough of it right, even a flawed mix like American Ultra will inspire adoration.

Other Notes:

Ø  There’s some really stylish pieces of action here.

Ø  Stick around through the first part of the credits.  You won’t be disappointed.

Ø  Max Landis actually has four films that should be coming out this year or next, including the Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy led Victor Frankenstein.