This movie is going to be polarizing.
It’s an acquired taste. You will either love it or hate it. Do you like your comedy with heavy doses of violent action? Do you like your violent action laced with some good ol’ fashioned druggie humor?
If so, you’ll will probably love American Ultra. It just may take some time.
That’s because Ultra is a unique flick that starts off not knowing what it is. Action or comedy. You may have gotten that vibe from the trailer. It left me wondering what the hell I was watching for about half of the film’s 90 minute run time. Then it clicked for me.
American Ultra isn’t worried about being categorized into a specific genre. It is an amalgamation. It just IS WHAT IT IS. That makes it wildly entertaining and original. My favorite Action/Comedy/Whatever since Beverly Hills Cop.
Unlike recent films of the ilk like Pineapple Express and another Jesse Eisenberg vehicle 30 Minutes or Less, Ultra doesn’t feel like it is forcing the issue. Pineapple Express played like a comedy with another movie stuck onto the end of it while 30 Minutes never knew what it was. Ultra is an organic experience, filled with laughs and blood dripping walls.
Eisenberg takes Max Landis’ script and gives his best performance to date. I always found him one note as a performer. Likable enough but always the same. Here he takes his stoner dude turn government super-agent and plays the grey area expertly. He doesn’t just flip the switch and turn into Jason Bourne. He beats ass like Bourne and is TRIPPING OUT continuously as it happens. He asks Kristen Stewart with tears welling in his eyes “Am I a robot?” Hilarious stuff.
Miss Bella Stewart does a good job and is becoming more and more acceptable to me. Good jesus that sentence makes me sound like a pompous douche but she is growing on me as we travel further from the Twilight Age. I say that instead. Kristen Stewart is growing on me and I don’t despise her any more. Not much better.
I don’t know if this film will find a wide audience. It seems to out of step with those around it. If you have any inkling that you may dig it, seek it out. For me, it is one of my favorite films of the year.