Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

American Ultra Blu-ray Movie Review

Howell. Mike Howell.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 20, 2015

There might be an engaging film to be made out of cobbling together certain elements of Slacker and James Bond, but unfortunately American Ultra isn’t it. The film manages to be fitfully engaging from time to time as it depicts the exploits of a “stoned cold killer” (get it?) named Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) who spends his day toking an endless supply of spliffs while his equally high girlfriend Phoebe Larson (Kristen Stewart) prefers the blandishments of a bong. Mike seems to be a spectacularly unambitious twenty something who has little on his plate other than a joint and, occasionally, his job at a local convenience market. When he attempts to take Phoebe on a trip to Hawaii in order to propose to her, it’s revealed that Mike suffers from debilitating panic attacks which have kept him sequestered in the little town where he and Phoebe make whatever lives they can call their own. In just the first of several lurching screenplay conceits, the film suddenly breaks the claustrophobic confines of Mike and Phoebe’s existence to offer a quick view of the Central Intelligence Agency, where no nonsense agent Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton) gets an anonymous call tipping her off to the fact that one of her “assets” is about to be terminated with extreme prejudice. That asset of course turns out to be Mike, who is spectacularly unaware that he is the product of some fairly severe conditioning as part of a top secret covert operation known as Ultra.

American Ultra’s television spots played up some of the goofy humor the film tries to exploit, highlighting the first scene where Mike’s “special powers” come to the fore and he, probably more amazed by his sudden prowess than even his victims are, rather briskly takes out a couple of assassins sent by Victoria’s longtime nemesis Yates (Topher Grace). (As is continually the case with American Ultra, only passing lip service is given as to why these two are so pitted against each other, and Yates’ reasons for wanting to take out Mike are never really adequately explained at all.) However, the actual film is more of a hodgepodge, trading pretty uneasily on politically incorrect “humor” (John Leguizamo throws around the “n word” with rather amazing alacrity, using it repeatedly to refer to Mike and Phoebe), while attempting to gussy things up from an adrenaline rush standpoint by delivering a number of over amped action sequences.

Max Landis’ screenplay is a pretty standard paint by numbers affair, getting Victoria to the tiny town of Liman where she “activates” Mike by visiting the convenience store and spewing a chain of ridiculous “secret agent” verbiage which supposedly unlocks some previously shaded corridors in the kid’s subconscious. He’s initially confused, of course, leading Victoria to believe she’s failed and that Mike will fall to the coming onslaught arranged by Yates, but as that aforementioned fight scene soon details, it just takes a while for Mike to shake off his THC induced lethargy. After he’s unceremoniously dispatched the first two bad guys sent to take him out, he’s understandably freaked out, and calls Phoebe for emotional backup. The two soon become fugitives as the entire town is beset by ridiculous amounts of invading operatives. They first turn to Mike’s buddy Rose (John Leguizamo) for help, but figure out quickly enough that they’re going to have to forage on their own for whatever help they can arrange. The sequence at Rose’s house ends up revealing a supposed “twist” with regard to Phoebe that anyone with half a brain (and maybe not even that much) will see coming a mile (and maybe more) off.

The laziness of the writing is evidenced by any number of other supposed developments that occur, including a kind of toady-ish CIA operative named Petey (Tony Hale) who has a history with Victoria and who initially helps her in her quest to free Mike from the invading hordes of killers, but who later supposedly pulls back after being threatened by Yates. Guess which side he comes down on in the film’s supposed climax? This is one of the more curiously undercooked elements of the film, and the ostensible “tension” of what Petey is going to do once Yates calls in a drone strike that Petey is in charge of is completely angst free since the character has been so haphazardly introduced and utilized up to that point. A post-climax montage of Petey’s reactions to his decision is just flat out silly, another sign of a certain carelessness on either the part of Landis or director Nima Nourizadeh. (In a bit of tangential trivia, Nourizadeh directed the unexpected 2012 hit Project X. A fairly lackluster 1968 film entitled Project X, based upon a really well written novel entitled The Artificial Man by L.P. Davies, dealt with a secret agent who was the subject of a mind control experiment and who had been “placed” in a normal, everyday environment without his conscious knowledge. Sound familiar?)

Though there aren’t any deleted scenes included on this Blu-ray release, one gets the feeling that copious amounts of material were either never written, filmed and/or included in a final cut. Aside from the aforementioned lack of detail on the whole Victoria and Yates rivalry, there’s precious little information about Mike’s penchant for drawing illustrations, let alone the subjects he chooses (are these after effects of his conditioning?). A very brief glimpse at some top secret files gives a hint at what’s going on with Yates’ horde of crazed assassins, but even this element is given short shrift, meaning that a final showdown between Mike and one of the assassins has virtually no context and therefore very little resonance. And speaking of that lone final assassin, what exactly happens to him, anyway? One moment he’s there, the next moment, he’s gone. These are questions that even the megamind of a highly trained operative like Mike Howell might have a hard time answering.

American Ultra Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

American Ultra is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Shot digitally with the Arri Alexa XT Plus, American Ultra looks curiously bland at times, though part of this is due to the fact that director Nima Nourizadeh and cinematographer Michael Bonvillain exploit some of Mike's "natural habitat" like the convenience store, where the harsh glare of overhead fluorescent lights tends to wash out detail (see screenshot 15 for one example). Close-ups still deliver abundant fine detail (see screenshot 5), though a lot of the film takes place in darkened environments, where murk can creep in and give a slightly hazy quality to some sequences (see screenshot 18). The film has not really been that aggressively color graded (at least not compared to typical spy thrillers), though there are occasional forays into the expected blue and yellow tones. There are no issues with image instability and no problems with compression anomalies.

American Ultra Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

American Ultra features a blisteringly effective DTS:X track (with a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 core, the version reviewed here). While it takes a moment for the first immersive onslaught to happen, once it does (during a brief but sonically overwhelming montage of memories Mike experiences), it's obvious that this track is going to fully utilize the surround channels to often impressive effect. There are a number of standout moments throughout the film, including expected "wow" instances of explosions and gunfire, but one of the most impressive sequences comes late in the film when a drone is employed to take out Mike. There is great detail in both the panning proclivities of the drone as well as discretely placed ambient environmental (and even dialogue) effects that make the track exciting and extremely immersive. Though often very busy, even noisy at times, the track offers superb prioritization, with nary a line of dialogue getting lost in the maelstrom. Fidelity is top notch and dynamic range extremely wide.

American Ultra Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Nima Nourizadeh


• Activating American Ultra (1080p; 40:22) is a probably needlessly in depth set of featurettes documenting various aspects of the production.


• Assassinating on a Budget (1080p; 3:25) is a kind of silly montage made up brief moments from the film where Mike uses cost efficient means to take out his enemies.


• Gag Reel (1080p; 2:42)

American Ultra Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's notable that when American Ultra suddenly segues into Mike's hand drawn illustrations coming "alive" as animated fare underneath the closing credits, the film finally achieves an appropriate balance between action and whimsy. Unfortunately, as was just stated it's the closing credits sequence, and much of what has gone before never quite gets to that same level and/or balance. Eisenberg and Stewart are rather winning, but the supporting cast struggles to make something out of near nothing. Fans of the stars may want to check this out, and technical merits are strong for those considering a purchase.