6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 1.2 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A stoner and his girlfriend's sleepy, small-town existence is disrupted when his past comes back to haunt him in the form of a government operation set to wipe him out.
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Connie Britton, Walton GogginsComedy | 100% |
Action | 3% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS:X
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS 2.0
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
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 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 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.
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.
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