American Ultra

This movie was an extreme disappointment! The story line is good, and it could have been a very cool movie. However, the directing goes wrong from the very beginning with the going back in time to show how we got here trick, and the voice over, narration. From there it just got worst. The acting/characters are bad, the story gets lost in it self, and the twists don't add anything to the movie. I can't see how this is good entertainment. They could have done to the spy genre what Shaun of the Dead did to the zombie genre.

RenoFeb 2016

3.0

> A very familiar theme, as well as a small quantity entertainer. The second movie for the director. His first, 'Project X' was an unexpected full treat. I simply loved that one, just for the entertainment's sake. I anticipated, 'Project XX' or 'Project Y', followed by 'XXX' or 'Z', but that never happened. I thought the director was setting up his own style of filmmaking, but this film did not clinch well. There's no story, just based on one evening event that stretches as far as another day by adding brief oral flashbacks to match with the rest of the storyline. But the fact is it was a comedy version of 'Hitman'. The red band trailer I saw revealed many stuffs, but the movie still offered lots of variety from the different angles of the same stuffs. Jesse Eisenberg, I never expected him to play a character like this, he was good. But it was only a partial display, if there is a sequel, I expect that would be an uncompromised when it comes to the stunts and heroic adventure. Although I enjoyed the end credit animation. Kristen Stewart was just hanging around, though her character had potential to be a game changer, so let's hope the sequel strengthens that part. Yeah, I'm kind of certain about the follow-up after seeing this film's ending, if they don't consider to make one, that would be theirs great loss. Anyway, the movie is a good entertainer, but not your unusual story as you expect it to be. 6/10

American Ultra is not fiction. The movie is based on MK Ultra secret experiments by CIA to make unaware people become secret assassins performed by psychiatrists using drugs and hypnosis on victims. MK Ultra was exposed to the public in 1974 by a New York Times investigative report written by journalist Seymour Hersh. The movie itself is a good action comedy about government conspiracy. Under the comedy premise it shows how the MK Ultra program was supposed to be happening. Recommended. Those clueless about MK Ultra won't get the whole picture, believing it to be just an absurd comedy.