Reel Critics: ‘American Ultra,’ ‘Phoenix’

‘American Ultra’ ineffectively blends genres

“American Ultra” is a strange hybrid of sweet teen romance and bloody R-rated violence delivered in comic book style.

It’s a Frankenstein patchwork of disparate movie parts stitched together with predictably bad results. It’s too gruesome to be soft and funny. It’s too silly to be taken seriously as a gritty action flick.

Jesse Eisenberg plays a stoner-slacker working in a convenience store. But he is really a CIA sleeper agent with dormant Jason Bourne abilities. Events conspire to unexpectedly bring out his deadly hidden powers.When he suddenly leaps into action, the bodies of the bad guys pile up by the dozens.

Kristen Stewart plays his longtime girlfriend, who also turns out to be a CIA agent handler. She has been assigned all along to keep an eye on the sleeper agent while pretending to be his sweetheart. This plot device provides complications both tender and disturbing.

But the cartoonish story strips any reality from their potential relationship. In the end, the malicious violence cancels the juvenile super hero narrative. It leaves you wondering who the target audience might be.

—John Depko

‘Phoenix’ mixes Hitchcock with Holocaust

In the flawless “Phoenix,” a Jewish singer disfigured in a concentration camp returns to Berlin immediately after World War II, obsessed with finding her husband.

Nelly (Nina Hoss) is brought into Berlin by her friend Lene (Nina Kunzendorf) for reconstructive surgery. Told she is lucky to be alive, Nelly is eager to know about her husband, Johnny. Lene wants her to focus on getting well and plan for a new start in Tel Aviv.

Among the bombed-out ruins of Berlin, Nelly finds him working in a seedy club aptly named Phoenix. She is shattered to realize he does not recognize her.

But something about her gets Johnny’s attention. He tells her his wife is dead but was left a lot of money, and if Nelly would impersonate his wife, they could split the inheritance.

Nelly is so desperate to be around Johnny that she goes along with the scheme. Lene is appalled, for she knows that her husband betrayed her to the Nazis. Lene is heartsick that Jews who have been put through such hell by their own people seem so willing to forgive them.

Reminiscent of Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” Johnny grooms Nelly to look like his wife and shares memories of their life together. Did he ever really love her? Was he responsible for her being sent to a camp? Is he falling for the “Nelly impersonator,” or does Johnny know it’s actually his wife? Is Nelly secretly plotting revenge?

Nina Hoss and Ronald Zehrfeld give wonderfully layered performances as Nelly and Johnny Lenz.

The intrigue deepens and the final scenes of “Phoenix” are fraught with tension. This fragile tale of humanity trying to rise up from the ashes will linger in my mind for days to come.

—Suzanne Perez

JOHN DEPKO is a retired senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. He lives in Costa Mesa and works as a licensed private investigator. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a company in Irvine.