American Ultra—Movie Review

• 

by Peter J. O'Connell

American Ultra. Released: August 2015. Runtime: 95 mins. Rated: R for strong, bloody violence, language throughout, drug use and some sexual content.

Once upon a time, in the mountains of West Virginia, there dwelt a young stoner couple, Mike (Jesse Eisenberg) and Phoebe (Kristen Stewart). Far from the madding crowd, they lived and loved and got high together. The only problem was that Mike could not really remember his younger years and would have physical and psychological problems whenever he set out to leave his small town, so he gave up attempting to remember or to leave.

One evening, however, the outside world comes to Mike at the convenience store where he works—comes to him with the aim of killing him. You see, Mike wasn't just your run of the bong stoner. In those younger years, he had been programmed by the CIA to have latent fighting skills of a high level, very lethal skills when activated.

Now Adrian Yates (Topher Grace), a CIA honcho, has decided to “terminate” the subjects of the programming, and he has ordered his own squad of killer subjects to carry out that task. Mike's long-distance handler (Connie Britton), however, distrusts what Yates is up to and activates Mike's skills.

The aisles of the convenience store soon run red with blood. And that's just the start of a very lively—whoops, deadly—night for Mike and Phoebe. Mike struggles to understand his situation: “Something very weird is happening to me: I keep killing people! There is a chance I may be . . . a robot!”

Mike is not a robot, and, in fact, he comes to gain a fuller individual identity during the course of many, imaginatively rendered, struggles through the dark and bloody night. Mike's love for Phoebe deepens, and she reveals some fighting skills and secrets of her own.

Director Nima Nourizadeh, in the manner of Quentin Tarantino, mixes sanguinary action with dark humor and some tender feeling. Eisenberg and Stewart are convincing as the young couple caught up in the over-the-top events. Connie Britton and Bill Pullman as CIA figures give strong support as do John Leguizamo as Mike's drug connection and Walton Goggins as a maniacal killer. Topher Grace, however, seems too slight both physically and in acting chops for his role. American Ultra isn't exactly “summer fun.” but it does make for a diverting hour-and-a-half in the dark.

“Footnote” to the film: MK Ultra was the name given to a real series of “mind control” and similar projects carried out by the CIA in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Some say that the projects, supposedly cancelled in the 1970s, actually have continued to this day.