American Ultra
American Ultra is not the best action movie. It is not even the best action movie about a sleeper agent with no memories. But it is still an entertaining movie. The 95-minute movie is full of over-the-top action and follows a ridiculous plot. The dialogue is borderline cliché and the characters constantly go against what a real person would do. Yet, it is an entertaining movie.
All these negatives sort of work in this film because the movie acknowledges them, showing us that this is not bad acting or plot writing, but it’s all purposeful to showcase the kind of thinking that Mike (Jesse Eisenberg) is experiencing daily. Mike lives and works in a small town in the middle of nowhere. At the start of the movie, we are shown that he wants to propose to his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart) and decides to do so in Hawaii. However, due to his past, he suffers extreme panic attacks whenever he tries to leave town. This builds a character that seems to be suffering from mental disorders, however, through the progression of the movie, we see him perform certain acts that would prove otherwise, leading down a rather outlandish plot structure.
I think the most disappointing thing about the movie was how everything was resolved at the end. The characters did not seem realistic at all in the motives and the personalities. This took a lot away from giving us a satisfying ending which was one of the biggest letdowns after some intense action scenes.
On that note, the action scenes seemed to get better and better. The weird way in which Mike would react to different attackers with a clueless straight face gave him a demeanor like Saitama from One Punch Man. His hidden knowledge in fighting and analyzing his opponents gave us some slick Jason Bourne type of action with a lot of close-quarters combat. This is one of the highlights of the movie.
The acting is good, at least from the lead roles. They were probably the only ones who held their own throughout all the scenes. Many of the supporting actors seemed almost forgettable. The certain lack of realism in a few scenes also takes a lot away from the movie and the characters as well. Still, the Jason Bourne-style fight scenes and the crazy ways in which Mike always seems to come out on top, make this movie a decent watch.