American Ultra

Dir: Nima Nourizadeh

2015

**

I didn’t know that much about American Ultra before watching it but I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t based on a graphic novel or a comic series as it feels suspiciously familiar. I went into it blind and I have to admit my heart sank a little when Jesse Eisenberg’s name came up on screen, followed by Kristen Stewart and then Max Landis. I’m not a fan of Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network remains his finest work but only because playing unlikable comes natural to him. Kristen Stewart is hit and miss. Max Landis on the other hand is about as overrated as it gets. Chronicle was incredibly over-hyped, I liked the idea but I really didn’t think they made a good film out of it. Still, I make a point of giving everything a try and doing so with an open mind and I will admit that there is a lot to like about American Ultra. Firstly, Nima Nourizadeh’s direction is superb, someone please give him a decent story to work with because his visuals are outstanding. It’s interesting to see the transition from music video director to feature film director, in many respects I wonder why you would as the pay isn’t as good and you don’t get as much freedom or variety but here Nourizadeh has taken a mediocre and somewhat formulaic story and made it look fresh and original. The plot itself has been described as a ‘stoner Bourne’ which is pretty accurate and the sort of thing that would have stopped me from watching it had I known before sitting down to it. Jesse Eisenberg said in an interview that to prepare for the role of a stoner, he went and lived with his cousin, Andrew Eisenberg, who taught him how stoners walk and talk. Jesse Eisenberg has said that without his cousin, he probably couldn't pull the role off. This makes out that Eisenberg is an edgy method actor, which I don’t believe he is, and his character here is basically the same character he always plays but with long hair. He plays Mike Howell who lives in a small town in West Virginia and works in a quiet convenience store. He lives with his girlfriend Phoebe and plans to propose to her on a trip to Hawaii but due to repeated panic attacks he finds it impossible to leave the town. He fears he is keeping Phoebe back but she always sticks by him. We soon learn that Mick isn’t all that he seems, he doesn’t know it but he’s actually a CIA secret weapon. Just a simple code word whispered into his ear turns stoner Mike into an unstoppable killing machine. The film’s title is a clear reference to the CIA’s research project called MK Ultra. Once again the project has been misunderstood. The project was started to combine what the American government knew about mind control with what the Germans knew about this subject. The letters MK use the English word for "mind" and the German word for "control". So MK stands for Mind Kontrolle. "Ultra" refers to the highest level of security classification. Its main purpose was to come up with ways to induce their subjects with Multiple Personality Disorder and find out how these alter personalities could then be triggered on command to be utilized for other means which the subject generally would have no recollection of afterwards. The project began in 1953 after the American government had brought scientists from Nazi Germany to America under Operation Paperclip, and officially ended in 1973. It’s hard to tell whether Mike being a stoner and the title featuring the word ‘American’ is a comment on the youth of today in the US or if they couldn’t think of anything else to call it but it’s a twisted version of a factual idea, sci-fi if you will. Fine, I’m down with that, its just that it isn’t done very well. The set up isn’t strong enough for one to feel involved and the climax is all a bit too overblown. It feels like the beginning of a film and the ending of a film have been stuck together with a big chunk of middle missing. It’s an alternative superhero film really, a different version of Chronicle in some respects. I think everyone is miscast. I do agree that Eisenberg and Stewart make for a great acting duo, they are clearly friends and the chemistry between them on screen is strong, I just think this was the wrong film for both of them. I’m still unsure as to whether it was meant to be a comedy, or at least have funny moments, because if so then it fails miserably. I liked the gory violence towards the end but again, it didn’t seem to fit with the film’s first chapter and it wasn’t really much of a twist. It’s what happens when you give a great director a rubbish film to make.