Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Mike is an unmotivated stoner whose small-town life with his live-in girlfriend, Phoebe, is suddenly turned upside down. Unbeknownst to him, Mike is actually a highly trained, lethal sleeper agent. In the blink of an eye, as his secret past comes back to haunt him, Mike is thrust into the middle of a deadly government operation and is forced to summon his inner action-hero in order to survive.
American Ultra is a serviceable genre mashup — stoner comedy meets Jason Bourne — that has a fun central premise but struggles to fully exploit it. The plot is fairly predictable once the sleeper-agent hook is established, leaning on familiar action-comedy beats without much surprise. Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart share genuine chemistry that elevates the film above its script, and the supporting cast (Topher Grace, Connie Britton) adds color. Cinematography is competent with some stylized action sequences but nothing remarkable. The novelty of the stoner-spy hybrid is somewhat distinctive in execution, though the concept wears thin. The ending resolves obligatorily and without particular satisfaction, feeling rushed and tonally uneven.