American Ultra Review
RYAN: This film is different because it’s a CIA, undercover agent movie that has a sci fi vibe to it. But it’s overly ambitious and doesn’t really work. It tried for what Quentin Tarantino does, but never quite achieved it. There’s violence and gore, that’s entertaining, but as a whole, the film feels very B movie.
CHUCK: I completely agree with you. The fight scenes were over-the-top gory so it was ok. But every aspect of the movie feels one step below of successful It all just feels like potential. The story could have been better and it wasn’t executed correctly.
RYAN: That’s because of the score which sounded synthesized out of the 80s, the comedic script that fell short of being funny and then some of the casting. Topher Grace. Any time he’s in a movie, it worries me. He’s attractive and I like him but he’s never natural.
CHUCK: And buying him in this role, in particular, was a hard sell. He’s, like, our generations Richie Cunningham. Ron Howard would never play the hard guy. I don’t have anything against Topher, but this was a bad casting.
RYAN: Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg were great individually and amazing together. Going in, I couldn’t see them as a couple but they really both won me over right away. And I like Connie Britton.
CHUCK: And Tony Hale from TV’s Veep is great too in a bit part. Jesse has a complicated character. He goes from being a feeble pothead to…
RYAN: …he becomes a superhero, basically.
CHUCK: Exactly, without losing that feebleness.
RYAN: He and Kristen both had fine moments in this. And they both cry. The editing is actually quite interesting early on in the film and I thought it would be a cool movie but then the pacing is so uneven… it slows down right away and then has pockets…
CHUCK: And formulaic.
RYAN: It never grabbed me. I was never fully into it.
CHUCK: I also never got into this movie even thought it’s only an hour and a half long. You can tell they had a visual perspective. There was an original idea to it.
RYAN: It has its own vibe but it was never fully realized. It’s half-baked, pun intended.
CHUCK: (laughs) It feels like it’s based on a graphic novel but it’s not.
RYAN: It’s an action comedy but I only mildly laughed once. The rest was more like a drama.
CHUCK: It needed a lot more polish.
RYAN: As an action film, it’s hitting theaters at a time when Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. are currently playing and I could never, in a million years, recommend American Ultra over either of those. They’re both far superior.
