Nima Nourizadeh (known for Project X) and Matt Landis (son of John Landis) bring us a warped and strange story of a small-town stoner Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) spends most of his time getting high and writing a graphic novel, an epic looking graphic novel called Apollo Ape.

What Mike doesn’t know is that he was trained by the CIA to be a lethal killing machine. When the agency targets him for termination, his former handler activates his latent skills, turning the mild-mannered slacker into a deadly weapon.

Now, the utterly surprised Mike must use his newfound abilities to save himself and his girlfriend from getting smoked.

Review

“The Chairman” – Did you notice that I left Kristen Stewart’s name out of the synopsis? There is a good reason for that, she is shit as usual. A prone and woody performance, which makes Jesse Eisenberg looks full of life (that’s amazing by the way).

Now that I got that out of the way, lets discuss the movie itself. The movie sold as a dark comedy, but its rather more grounded than you expect or want. There is a distinct lack of humour, this could be down to writing or poor acting (maybe a miscasting here) but it’s far too noticeable. They should get some notes Drew Goddard (The Martian), on how to inject humour into a serious and grounded story.

There is a good movie (possible great) in here somewhere, we just never got to see that movie. This movie is Pineapple Express meets the Bourne Identity and it comes off as propaganda for people who say Weed can cause permanent damage to the brain. 4.5/10

Please leave a comment on your thoughts of the movie.

Bonus:

Have a look at Matt Landis vision for a Superman/Justice League