Last night was $5 movie night and I just couldn't say no. We'd had a bad run recently on our movie selection. Well, not bad, really. Just not great. I still enjoyed the films that we saw. I just wasn't excited about them. Anyway, I had seen the trailers for American Ultra and had such high hopes. I thought it had the potential for something really fun. And it was. Well, sort of. The good news is that I didn't get bored in the same way I did with Rogue Nation and The Gift.
I thought this film was going to have a live action, graphic novel sort of feel. Sort of like Kick Ass. I loved Kick Ass! Who didn't? I mean, it was kick ass. There were parts of this film though that seemed as though the filmmakers wanted to head in that direction, but they just couldn't commit. They tried to take it seriously, or rather it seemed as though they wanted some fun, outrageous comic book-ie type action, but still wanted a serious action film feel. To be honest, that confused the hell out of me. I think, as an audience member, you can feel when something is off even if you can't quite put your finger on it.
I didn't really buy into Kristen Stewart as a CIA agent. That was really tough. First of all, she looks really young. She still has that baby face, and I'm sure she will for some time. Not a bad thing. Hold on to it for as long as you can, girl. Secondly, even though this was somewhat of different kind of role for her, she was still the "stoner girl". She's always seemed that way to me. A moody, mopey stoner girl. Nothing wrong with that either, but as a CIA agent, well, I just don't buy it. I'd sooner see Robin William's character in Mrs. Doubtfire as an agent before her.
There was some really great character work though. I think I would have liked the relationship between Kristen and Jesse's characters more if the CIA agent backstory was thrown in. It would have been a wee bit stronger if they had to deal with the realization of who Jesse is with sorting out their relationship, if that makes any sense. Two "regular" people in an extra-ordinary situation. That has more opportunity for better humor and is just plain more intriguing to me.
The other thing that sort of bummed me out was that Jesse's character was that I felt he wasn't as badass I thought he should be. After being "activated" in hopes of saving his life, Jesse finds himself with incredible abilities that he can't explain. He has knowledge about things he knew nothing about. He's an incredible fighter. Things like that. Some of the humor in what happens is Jesse's ability to pull off this amazement and confusion with these abilities while still performing killer actions. I just really felt that he could have been a little more badass. At least added some sequences that showcased that. There were plenty of situations in which he played the "lucky" badass moments, and that's not how the story sets up this secret weapon that he is that the CIA created.
Overall, I thought the film wasn't bad. It was good. It's worth seeing in the theaters if you have time. I wouldn't dash out the door right now to see it though.
