Tuesday, January 08, 2019

Overlooked Movies: American Ultra (2015)



AMERICAN ULTRA starts off like it’s going to be some sort of low-key indie drama about a young stoner (Jesse Eisenberg) who lives with his girlfriend (Kristen Stewart) in a small town, suffers panic attacks, and works at a dead-end job in a convenience store. But then it takes an abrupt left-hand turn into something very different as people start trying to kill the protagonist and he discovers that nothing he believed was true really is. And quite possibly, no one he knows can be trusted, either.

I’d never heard of this movie, and I’m not a big fan of either Eisenberg or Stewart, but it sounded just quirky enough to take a chance on, and I’m glad I did. It moves really, really fast, has a lot of stylish and well-done (and gory) action scenes, and the supporting cast is top-notch: Walton Goggins (who is in so many movies and TV shows he must not ever do anything except work), Connie Britton, John Leguizamo, and Topher Grace.

I really enjoyed AMERICAN ULTRA. It reminded me a little of THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, another movie that bombed at the box office and got bad reviews but has developed something of a cult following because it’s actually pretty good. Whether the same will ever be true of AMERICAN ULTRA, I don’t know, but I can see it happening. This is definitely worth watching if you don’t mind some bloody scenes.

3 comments:

Jeff Meyerson said...

If it is anywhere in the same league as THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT - one of Bill Crider's all-time favorites - it must be worth a look, even though as a rule I want to smack Eisenberg just on general principles.

James Reasoner said...

Yes, a little of Eisenberg generally goes a long way. The same is true of Kristen Stewart, where I'm concerned. This isn't nearly as good as THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, but at least it's in the same ballpark.

djmcblues2 said...

Thanks for putting so much time into this great blog!