Varèse Sarabande release the soundtrack to American Ultra. The score was composed by Marcelo Zarvos with additional original music by Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll. The film is a fast-paced action comedy about Mike, a seemingly hapless and unmotivated stoner whose small-town life with his live-in girlfriend, Phoebe, is suddenly turned upside down. Unbeknownst to him, Mike is actually a highly trained, lethal sleeper agent. In the blink of an eye, as his secret past comes back to haunt him, Mike is thrust into the middle of a deadly government operation and is forced to summon his inner action-hero in order to survive...

The score for American Ultra is composed by Marcelo Zarvos with additional original music by Paul Hartnoll (Orbital). Now, I'm a fan of both Zarvos and Orbital, but I didn't really get much out of this album. It could be that it's a little bland or it could be because it's mainly background filler material. It would appear that it's been composed to be as middle of the road as possible.

Over the course of this score's 22 tracks (41 min, 09 sec) it does have its moments, but there's nothing here that's an essential addition to your playlist.

'Sheriff Attack' has moments of promise; 'Fireworks' is about as Orbital as we get; and 'Apollo Ape' is a rather fun track. Sadly, everything else just kind of limps along. I'm guessing that the tracks that work are actually Hartnoll's. And Zarvos's music? Well, he just appears to have phoned it in.

Unless you're a massive fan of the movie, or Orbital, then I wouldn't waste your time on this one.

3

Darren Rea