_"Crazy is as crazy does, and you dragged crazy here. And I don't even know what that does or what that is. You see what I'm saying?"_

A film with a premise like this has potential, and I guess I also like this sort of thing quite a bit; this film was underwhelming with such a premise, which makes the underwhelmingness more impactful. Being able to do something like that (the MK-Ultra-esque concept) has a level of fascination: although let's not romanticize it; what happened in real life. But when it comes to being used fictionally, that sort of thing can be so entertaining; I mean, the _Bourne_ films, anyone?

Yet, with this film, the right pieces were there but not used properly. Instead of expanding on that aspect, it was a backdrop for the relationship between the two main characters; the result was somewhat of a boring film: not to mention, having that aspect in the first place seemed useless. If the point is the romance part, you should either: not have a backdrop like this or at least expand more on that backdrop/have it be more prominent to where the romance aspect feels like a cherry on top rather than the entire cake. The irony is that the romance angle didn't pan out to its full extent, either: so it would've been better to have the programmed-sleeper-agent aspect be at the forefront; at least then, the film would've been more enjoyable.

Besides being underwhelming, as far as the execution of the premise is concerned, some choppy editing at times during an action/fight sequence, and besides being somewhat of a boring film overall, there were still some bright spots.

Most of the action sequences had satisfactory utilization all-around.
The cinematography by Michael Bonvillain had some specific good shots that stood out, and generally, it was pretty decent; on second thought, a little better than pretty decent.
Some of the dialogue was funny and delivered in a way that did it justice, improving it. When Victoria said the vocal activation cue to Mike, Jesse's delivery was good. And John Leguizamo's character (while a "little" offensive) provided some comic relief.
The performances by Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart were decent, but his performance was a little off-putting; that sort of awkward, timid character, which seems to be his typecast: and her performance was a little too 'her.' On the plus side, they got better further into the film, especially his performance; I was lowkey impressed: and she delivered some good acting later in, even though it still came across as 'her.'
Topher Grace was an entertaining antagonist with which the 'some of the dialogue was funny' aspect included.
And the animation at the end was creative; you don't see that sort of thing often.

All-in-all, this film wasn't that bad; as I just said/wrote, there were bright spots. But a film can have some redeeming qualities and still be weak; that's what this film was. Taking it a step further, I'd say it was one of the weaker ones I've seen this year: and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but some of the other films were more entertaining.

So, yeah. I wasn't much of a fan, which, surprisingly, seems to go against the majority's opinion: that this film was a trip; a _good_ trip. As I've mentioned a couple of times, this film had some bright spots, but that can only do so much when, generally, the film isn't quite up-to-par.

This movie was an extreme disappointment!

The story line is good, and it could have been a very cool movie. However, the directing goes wrong from the very beginning with the going back in time to show how we got here trick, and the voice over, narration. From there it just got worst. The acting/characters are bad, the story gets lost in it self, and the twists don't add anything to the movie.

I can't see how this is good entertainment. They could have done to the spy genre what Shaun of the Dead did to the zombie genre.

> A very familiar theme, as well as a small quantity entertainer.

The second movie for the director. His first, 'Project X' was an unexpected full treat. I simply loved that one, just for the entertainment's sake. I anticipated, 'Project XX' or 'Project Y', followed by 'XXX' or 'Z', but that never happened. I thought the director was setting up his own style of filmmaking, but this film did not clinch well. There's no story, just based on one evening event that stretches as far as another day by adding brief oral flashbacks to match with the rest of the storyline. But the fact is it was a comedy version of 'Hitman'.

The red band trailer I saw revealed many stuffs, but the movie still offered lots of variety from the different angles of the same stuffs. Jesse Eisenberg, I never expected him to play a character like this, he was good. But it was only a partial display, if there is a sequel, I expect that would be an uncompromised when it comes to the stunts and heroic adventure. Although I enjoyed the end credit animation.

Kristen Stewart was just hanging around, though her character had potential to be a game changer, so let's hope the sequel strengthens that part. Yeah, I'm kind of certain about the follow-up after seeing this film's ending, if they don't consider to make one, that would be theirs great loss. Anyway, the movie is a good entertainer, but not your unusual story as you expect it to be.

6/10