The story was confusing, the action scenes didn't have a clear tone and I didn't laugh much. Probably the worst movie I've seen this year. Certainly the worst this summer.

American Ultra was a released and advertised as a type of stoner action-comedy, however it was not as comedic as lead to believe, but more so dramatic with plenty of violent action. Starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, playing a couple whom we are to believe everything is fine between them, turns out for the worst while watching this film. Topher Grace plays the lead antagonist and he wasn't as believable and, acted as if he was still on a sitcom. He was miscast and not intimidating as the character was intended to be.American Ultra is quite a bizarre and weirdly film, where not much is explained and what is occurring happen very quickly,and all at once. There are brief twists along the way but for the most part, the film isn't entertaining or interesting enough. The trailers lead it believe this was another stoner comedy like Pineapple Express, but it is far from it. It is more like Hesher (starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt) but not as good, or even slightly similar to the Bourne films (in terms of plot wise) but also not as good. This film tries being more dramatic and emotional than needed and with the writing not being as great, we don't sympathize for the characters as we probably are supposed to. It takes itself too serious and that is a flaw. Sure there are action sets including shootouts, and fights, and some of which are quite bloody and disturbing but it isn't very good.Overall, American Ultra is not what it seemed to be as advertised, and it is lacking in general entertainment. The plot line is quite clever but the execution isn't great, and with better ideas, this movie could have been better and possibly a cult classic. Perhaps this film went through many edits and changes which is why the genres were somewhat all over the place.

I like action adventure and I like comedy, and there have been some successful combinations of the genres of late; (Spy, Red, Red2). This one did not fail to please. Excellent performances all round as the initially gormless lead goes from total shock about the re-emergence of abilities from....he knows not where, to boilerplate action hero.

Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) is stuck in the small town of Liman, West Virginia. His girlfriend Phoebe Larson (Kristen Stewart) is the only good thing in his life. He's a convenience store clerk and has panic attacks whenever he tries to leave town. CIA Agent Victoria Lasseter (Connie Britton) is told that her Ultra program and Mike is to be eliminated by her CIA rival Adrian Yates (Topher Grace). Victoria goes to activate Mike turning him into a skilled action hero.The basic premise has good potential and Eisenberg could be fun as an action lead. The CIA stuff is distracting and Topher Grace is barely functional in his role. The movie would improve by cutting out half of that part. The potential is never fully realized. There are fun moments that could have been much better. I can't pinpoint the exact problem but much of the blame has to be laid at the feet of sophomore director Nima Nourizadeh who made the indie party movie Project X. There are numerous little problems that add up to be a bit of a disappointment.