American UltraEverybody's got hidden potential; but not everybody is a sleeper agent for the CIA. American Ultra is an action comedy about a socially awkward misfit and recreational drug enthusiast named Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg), who whiles away his days working at a convenience store, drawing comic book doodles, and having fits of anxiety that keep him from travelling outside of his small hometown of Liman, West Virginia. His greatest joy is his girlfriend, Phoebe Larson (Kristen Stewart), who he wishes to marry, even though he can't seem to find the perfect time to propose. But when an arrogant and unscrupulous CIA desk jockey named Adrian Yates (Topher Grace) sees a chance for promotion by assassinating Mike--who is unwittingly a sleeper agent from an abandoned government program--the slacker must do or die.
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American Ultra takes part of its name from a controversial CIA drug-based mind control program ostensibly halted in the early Seventies--a program that remains enshrouded in mystery to this day. Written by Max Landis, this film takes the myth of the MKUltra program and speculates about how anyone might be a hyper-skilled secret agent just waiting to be "activated"...provided they had their memories of said training wiped before they were dropped back into civilization. Mike's life in Liman seems fated to go nowhere; he doesn't mind, since things seem comfortable between him and Phoebe. There is a kind of "quiet death" to this mediocre, unfulfilled life--but at least it's his life. It isn't until the last defender of the "Wiseman" program that produced Mike--another CIA agent named Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton)--mutters some gibberish to him that Mike is forced to confront the outside world, and all the dangers that comes with it. Before this, he tried to take a flight to Hawaii with Phoebe, but froze up in the airport as he was stricken by anxiety. Mike has been paralyzed with the fear of any change in his life; but Yates' self-serving crusade to terminate the last vestige of Wiseman with his own "Toughguy" agents may be just the cruel jolt that Mike needs to see what life has to offer, whether he likes it or not.
American Ultra is an unlikely action movie, and it is self-aware about this as evidenced by casting Jesse Eisenberg as Mike Howell. There is something unassuming about Mike that disarms both his assailants as it does the audience, adding a layer of humor to the movie's over-the-top action moments. Consider when he tosses a frying pan into the air and ricochets a bullet off of it with eerie accuracy. Despite the absurdity of the action, American Ultra takes it seriously, and the movie flows with the raw brutality of action flicks like John Wick or The Protector. In the flash of an eye, Mike disarms attackers and turns their weapons back on them. He even does this to his allies when they get spooked and pull a gun on him, like his drug dealer, Rose (John Leguizamo), who flips out after a news story fabricated by Yates labels Mike and Lasseter as eco-terrorists. Yates' Toughguy agents are lethal and hostile, laying waste to Liman in their hunt for Mike; but Mike's latent training makes him more than a match for Yates' raw numbers. Like most action movies, American Ultra is constantly upping the ante from scene to scene, with bigger and badder explosions and throwdowns between Mike and his enemies. The film tempers this somewhat with Mike's initial reluctance to engage in violence, despite those impulses that surface at critical moments. After Mike intercepts a pair of killers tampering with his car and dispatches one of them with a spoon, he readily surrenders to the local law enforcement, run by the condescending Sheriff Watts (Stuart Greer). But Yates has no patience for due process and sends his goons--including a mentally deranged killer called "Laugher" (Walton Goggins)--to kill everyone inside the cop shop, forcing Mike to see just what kind of soulless monster is really gunning for him.
There is a definite separation between worlds in American Ultra--the world that everyday people like Mike occupy and where they go about their everyday lives, and the secret world of government intrigue and illicit experiments, where Lasseter and her boss, Raymond Krueger (Bill Pullman), call home. The CIA is depicted as dwelling in a cold and unfeeling realm, where integrity and trust is a liability at best. Lasseter even treats Petey Douglas (Tony Hale), the one ally she might have in Langley to help her keep Mike alive, with disdain at first. Combine that with her own flexible morality and that she was responsible for brainwashing and experimenting on Mike in the first place, and she comes across as only marginally better than Yates, who looks far worse because he is depicted as excessively loathsome and craven. Mike's stability is constantly being tested throughout American Ultra; not just because he relearns the myriad skills that have been kept hidden from him, but because everything he thought he could trust was a lie. People take for granted that their government has their best interests at heart--as it should be--but anytime you relinquish power to some ephemeral agency of people, you start to become less of a person to them and more of a commodity, or a pawn to be exploited. It's easy to be cynical about the government, but it's terrifying to discover that it is actively out to ruin your life to justify its own continued existence. American Ultra never quite pursues these themes as deeply as it could, but like with Mike, there is a sense that to pull the curtain back all the way would drive you insane with grief and horror. Better to numb the pain and forget.
Recommended for: Fans of an action movie that dabbles a bit with genres, including stoner comedy, brutal "gun fu", and political thriller. American Ultra is a bloody and violent movie with lots of guns, explosions, and language, making it best suited for adults who don't mind their action movie peppered with a dash of government conspiracy and drug culture.
American Ultra is an unlikely action movie, and it is self-aware about this as evidenced by casting Jesse Eisenberg as Mike Howell. There is something unassuming about Mike that disarms both his assailants as it does the audience, adding a layer of humor to the movie's over-the-top action moments. Consider when he tosses a frying pan into the air and ricochets a bullet off of it with eerie accuracy. Despite the absurdity of the action, American Ultra takes it seriously, and the movie flows with the raw brutality of action flicks like John Wick or The Protector. In the flash of an eye, Mike disarms attackers and turns their weapons back on them. He even does this to his allies when they get spooked and pull a gun on him, like his drug dealer, Rose (John Leguizamo), who flips out after a news story fabricated by Yates labels Mike and Lasseter as eco-terrorists. Yates' Toughguy agents are lethal and hostile, laying waste to Liman in their hunt for Mike; but Mike's latent training makes him more than a match for Yates' raw numbers. Like most action movies, American Ultra is constantly upping the ante from scene to scene, with bigger and badder explosions and throwdowns between Mike and his enemies. The film tempers this somewhat with Mike's initial reluctance to engage in violence, despite those impulses that surface at critical moments. After Mike intercepts a pair of killers tampering with his car and dispatches one of them with a spoon, he readily surrenders to the local law enforcement, run by the condescending Sheriff Watts (Stuart Greer). But Yates has no patience for due process and sends his goons--including a mentally deranged killer called "Laugher" (Walton Goggins)--to kill everyone inside the cop shop, forcing Mike to see just what kind of soulless monster is really gunning for him.
There is a definite separation between worlds in American Ultra--the world that everyday people like Mike occupy and where they go about their everyday lives, and the secret world of government intrigue and illicit experiments, where Lasseter and her boss, Raymond Krueger (Bill Pullman), call home. The CIA is depicted as dwelling in a cold and unfeeling realm, where integrity and trust is a liability at best. Lasseter even treats Petey Douglas (Tony Hale), the one ally she might have in Langley to help her keep Mike alive, with disdain at first. Combine that with her own flexible morality and that she was responsible for brainwashing and experimenting on Mike in the first place, and she comes across as only marginally better than Yates, who looks far worse because he is depicted as excessively loathsome and craven. Mike's stability is constantly being tested throughout American Ultra; not just because he relearns the myriad skills that have been kept hidden from him, but because everything he thought he could trust was a lie. People take for granted that their government has their best interests at heart--as it should be--but anytime you relinquish power to some ephemeral agency of people, you start to become less of a person to them and more of a commodity, or a pawn to be exploited. It's easy to be cynical about the government, but it's terrifying to discover that it is actively out to ruin your life to justify its own continued existence. American Ultra never quite pursues these themes as deeply as it could, but like with Mike, there is a sense that to pull the curtain back all the way would drive you insane with grief and horror. Better to numb the pain and forget.
Recommended for: Fans of an action movie that dabbles a bit with genres, including stoner comedy, brutal "gun fu", and political thriller. American Ultra is a bloody and violent movie with lots of guns, explosions, and language, making it best suited for adults who don't mind their action movie peppered with a dash of government conspiracy and drug culture.