The film with the intriguing title of American Ultra, with the light hand of domestic adapters, subtitled “Ultra-Americans,” is a continuation of the traditions of the newly formed sub-genre of superhero movies. In it, as in many others, a young loser, unexpectedly gaining unlimited possibilities and strength, crumbles all those who managed to fall under the hot hand of enemies.
In the spirit of postmodernism
The film "Ultra-Americans" reviews about the film, published by professional critics, received mixed. Most experts “thanked heaven” that such a project appeared in our era - the era of postmodernism, in which, without fear of consequences, you can shoot stories about heavy smokers of the grass, turn slobbers into superheroes and not consider films like American Ultra a bold idea.
However, after “Project X: Dorval”, “Pineapple Express”, “Bachelor Party” and other near-narcotic films, the work of Nima Nurizade did not surprise the experts every now and then. As the reviews of the film "Ultra-Americans" say, the project successfully fits into the friendly system of films listed above, but frankly falls short of the status of cults. The film did not have an inexorable drive, so the prefix "ultra" remained only in the name, it can not be used as the main characteristic.
Transformation of thrash comedy into melodrama
But it all started very well. In the movie "Ultra-Americans," movie reviews mark well-chosen, almost perfect casting and colorful characters: moderately weird Jesse Eisenberg, harmonious in the role of naughty unwashed hair, harmonious in the role of marijuana lover Kristen Stewart with his mouth always open, funny Tandoung bang Grace and the mysterious Bill Pullman.
In the first minutes, the development of the storyline resembles a cocking platoon - there is not a single passage episode, lively editing, informative dialogues, nice music and spectacular camera work - but after the creators it seems to be replaced. This fact in the film "Ultra-Americans" reviews of the film experts unanimously emphasize. After the intriguing plot, the picture was supposed to blow up the beholder’s brain, but the action begins to slip, the script sags, and the director does not have enough experience to break through the branched dialogs and inarticulate explanations.
It turns out that the project can be conditionally divided into two parts: the first - an outstanding, really funny comedy, undoubtedly deserves attention, the second - is more like a romantic nudyat with action elements.
Annoying oversight of authors
To explain the internal (structural) failure of the comedy "Ultra-Americans," reviews of the film experts are trying to insufficient experience of the authors. For the scriptwriter Max Landis and director Nim Nurizade, by and large the tape is the second full-length independent project. Landis, who wrote the script for the Chronicle of director Joshua Trank, failed to revive the ingenious cliched plot, which is based on an intriguing initial idea, and did not give it its original development. Nurizade saturated the timing of the picture with all the action arsenal left over from the debut of Project X, but the film required much more.
Four with a minus
In contrast to the opinions of professionals, the audience appreciated the movie “Ultra-Americans” more favorably. Reviews of the film dubbed a respite among the tiresome autumn blues after a modest summer. If the comedy rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website is 44%, on Metacritic - 50%, then IMDb is 6.4 out of 10. And according to CinemaScore, a company that polls viewers, the tape received “four with a minus” on a five-point scale.