The Film
Bong, James Bong.
American Ultra is a film about a stoner/slacker, who turns out to be a secret weapon. The film was billed as a stoner comedy, but seems to be lacking the comedy part.
Jesse Eisenberg plays Mike, the aforementioned stoner, who lives in a teeny town in West Virginia, works in a convenience store, and draws cartoons about a monkey astronaut. He also loves getting stoned, but not as much as he loves his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristin Stewart). He should, considering how much crap she has to put up with. For instance, Mike can't even go on vacation; the act of leaving town gives him massive panic attacks. That probably has something to do with Mike being a sleeper agent in the CIA's Ultra program.
When agent Adrian Yates (Topher Grace) decides to terminate the program, along with Mike, all hell breaks loose -- along with Mike's skills. Things get bloody pretty quick, as well as pretty predictable.
That's fine, though. If you're looking for an action movie with a high kill count and lots of noticable faces, American Ultra may be for you. Eisenberg and Stewart are re-teamed from the 2009 stoner comedy Adventureland, but Grace is the standout for playing his roll with a particularly large amount of douchiness. The movie also adds in Connie Britton, John Leguizamo, Tony Hale, Walton Goggins, and Lavell Crawford (it's Huell from Breaking Bad!). Heck, even Bill Pullman makes an appearance.
It doesn't really matter though because the film never touches on the stuff that would allow it to make even a tiny bit of sense. I can live with Jesse Eisenberg as the Jason Bourne, but why does Yates want him dead? Also, what's with the internal CIA feuding? And what do Mike's monkey drawings have to do with anything?
So yeah, American Ultra leaves a lot of unanswered questions, but that's not the biggest disappointment here. It's that Lionsgate billed this as a "stoner comedy," but it really isn't funny one bit. In fact, it probably could have used a few lighthearted moments to fill up all of the plot holes.
Think you can figure out this movie with a little more intel? Check out Matthew Passantino's theatrical review of American Ultra.
The Picture
This 1.85:1 image isn't real sparkly (except for those moments in that blacklight room), but it's not really the type of movie that should be. The closeups are when the image is most impressive, whether it's showing faces, dried pieces of Cup-A-Soup, or the bloody spoon. Otherwise, the film has a really dull color palette and a lot of scenes that are hazy, specifically whenever flourescent lights are present and during that chaotic final scene. It all seems intentional, but such films don't always make for the best Blu-ray experience.
The Sound
American Ultra comes packing a DTS:X track. Sadly, I couldn't test this out, since I am still awaiting that firmware update for my receiver. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track makes me pretty excited for that moment, though. Yes, this stoner "comedy" has a killer (no pun intended) soundtrack. From those opening moments, the film's score blasts out some seriously hearty surround surround, which rarely lets up throughout the film's entire runtime. Also, there are so many moments that seem like they were made with 3D sound format in mind. A plane soars overhead, thunderstorms rumble through the room, and various sounds from satellite feeds go scurrying through all seven speakers. Oh, and let's not forget about the bullets, explosions, helicopters, car crashes, and the drone. This track has a crazy amount of sound effects and the quality is both surprising and impressive.
The Extras
Director Nima Nourizadeh provides a feature-length commentary track. However, if you don't want that playing over this film's killer soundtrack, there's info about the production in the two-part, 40-minute "Activating American Ultra." Otherwise, this disc has a highlights reel of Mike's no-frills kills and a gag reel.
Final Thoughts
It's hard not to recommend American Ultra because the soundtrack is that good. Sadly, the movie is a different story. It's certainly not the worst I've seen. It's not even the worst this year, but it may be the most disappointing. The amount of comedy in this "action comedy" is downright appalling, but it's just a shame that this demo audio track doesn't have the content to match.
Product Details
Where to Buy:
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Movie | |
| Extras |
