Kristen Stewart, infamous for her work in “Twilight“, stars opposite Eisenberg with surprising effectiveness.
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And on Monday Kristen Stewart was also seen sharing a clandestine smooch on set with her old screen buddy Jesse Eisenberg.
Beyond that, the entire storyline involving exactly why Yates wants to kill Mike and how he thinks he’s going to get away with it feels even more improbable than the notion of Eisenberg’s stoner-killer. His small-town life revolves around working in a convenience store, his girlfriend and getting high. A madcap, murderous chase ensues, as Mike lays waste to every super soldier sent his way – as shocked as everyone else at his own bloodthirsty efficiency.
His reaction to moments throughout the film provides for some straight-up hilarious moments. One Jesse Eisenberg role is differentiated from another simply by the change of setting. Victoria, who despises Adrian and his methods, gets to the clueless Mike first and whispers a series of passwords that turn Mike’s latent self-defense skills into permanent “on” mode, which makes him, say, pretty adept at thwarting an assassination attempt with a cup of noodles and a metal spoon. The premise, a small-town stoner being activated as a Central Intelligence Agency killing-machine experiment, reads like a graphic novel that had a small initial print run but nonetheless developed a loyal cult following online, probably spurring some fan fiction along the way.
On the plus side, Eisenberg and Stewart have great chemistry together. She is patient with him; he has panic attacks at the mere thought of leaving town. But does that mask the weak acting flaws Stewart tends to bring to the script?
If I watch her bite her lip one more time, I may scream. And Britton is focused and tough, with her intensity itself eventually becoming a comic weapon (and I like the way she deflects some urgent questions from Eisenberg during later developments).
The actress also received praise from critics and from her Oscar-winning co-star Julianne Moore for her sensitively drawn performance in last year’s Still Alice.
One issue with creating a film that is part stoner comedy and part espionage adventure is that while Mike and Phoebe straddle both worlds, very few other characters do. Don’t let the cool looking posters and the deceivingly fun red-band trailer fool you; American Ultra isn’t a comedy by any means. If you watch it as a romance and a chance for two actors to power their way through a mash-up of a half-dozen genres, it may leave you touched and impressed. Not to ruin anything for those of you still intending to see American Ultra, but the end is very much set up so that more movies can easily follow, should the demand for such a thing arise.
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Just sit back, have some popcorn and enjoy Eric Foreman in a suit.
