How Did This Get Made? – “Ultraviolet LIVE!” w/ Nick Wiger & Mike Mitchell (HDTGM Matinee)

Release Date: January 6, 2026
Hosts: Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Guests: Nick Wiger & Mike Mitchell (The Doughboys)

Episode Overview

In this live Largo episode, Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, and guest hosts Nick Wiger and Mike Mitchell (of the Doughboys podcast) take on the 2006 Milla Jovovich sci-fi disaster, Ultraviolet. With their trademark comedic bewilderment, the panel attempts to untangle its confounding plot, lambaste its shoddy CGI, and parse its failed world-building—while reveling in the collective confusion that makes such bad movies worth celebrating.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Initial Impressions: Whose Movie Is This Anyway?

• The hosts express near-unanimous unfamiliarity with Milla Jovovich’s filmography (aside from The Fifth Element), and are unsure whether Ultraviolet even qualifies as a legitimate film (03:00).
• Jason Mantzoukas: "Watch this movie. Did not care for it. I felt watching this movie as if I was a video game. Poorly." [03:47]
• The film’s comic book-style opening is discussed, with the hosts questioning if it’s adapted from actual comics (it isn’t) (06:21).
• Nick Wiger: "The opening credits are a comic book montage because the director always wanted to make a comic book movie. And that, by the way, is why this movie is on this show." [07:06]

2. CGI Catastrophe, Sega CD Aesthetic, and Video Game Vibes

• Universal agreement that Ultraviolet boasts “the shittiest CGI I’ve ever seen.”—Mike Mitchell [07:33]
• Comparison to ’90s video game cutscenes and even General Insurance TV commercials
• “It looks like a cut scene.”—Mike Mitchell [07:41]
• Jason: “I would be more on board if the General and Shaq were in this movie.” [07:50]

3. World-building and (Absence of) Plot Clarity

• Complaints about rushed world-building: the movie offers exposition both too fast and not enough.
• “Give me backstory. I need, like, back it up, slow it down.”—Paul Scheer [08:05]
• The group laments that the film’s rules, stakes, and terminology (like “hemophages” instead of vampires) are unclear for most of the movie (09:01).
• Mike Mitchell: “I was like, it’s a fucking vampire movie. I did not know for 46 minutes.” [09:29]
• Conflation of ‘hemophage’ disease and vampire lore; “Is it an AIDS allegory?” they jokingly muse, referencing the blood, the camps, and the 12-year death sentence (09:59–10:00).

4. Ultraviolet's Powers and Bizarre Technology

• Powers and gadgets are introduced with no rules or reason, e.g. Fitbits that generate guns, “flat space” backpacks and briefcases holding people (13:16).
• Jason Mantzoukas: “Why does the Fitbit also have to load it single bullet at a time?” [15:20]
• The group is mystified by ‘practical’ gadgets, and Paul quips, “if you put all the dialogue together, it’s like what, eight, nine minutes maybe.” [13:02]

5. Pinball Bad Guys & Action Set Pieces

• Scene breakdowns are frequently interrupted by the hosts’ expressions of confusion and amusement at absurd visuals, such as the pinball henchmen who are shot out of a spaceship (17:26–18:00).
• “Those pinball guys were amazing.”—Jason Mantzoukas [17:26]

6. Failed Allegory? The Movie’s AIDS Subtext

• Recurrent audience and host speculation that the “hemophage” plot is a muddled allegory for HIV/AIDS discrimination (24:05):
  • Mike Mitchell: “I knew it was an AIDS thing... it’s kind of good if you think about it that way.” [23:58]

7. The Kid in the Briefcase and (Absence of) Motivation

• Extended struggle to determine what the “boy in the briefcase” actually is (digital? real?), why anyone cares about him, or what he represents (24:22–25:36).
• Paul Scheer (on the film’s world building): “It’s like the opposite of world building.” [25:13]
• The plot is so sparse with information that 25 minutes go by with almost no dialogue (28:24).

8. Director's Vision & Gunkata: Ambition Gone Off Rails

• The director, Kurt Wimmer, invented “gunkata”—a blend of gunplay and martial arts—but the hosts question its originality (and effectiveness), especially given The Matrix's pre-existence (29:21).
• Mila Jovovich reportedly punched Wimmer in the face after he doubted her intensity (30:04).
• Wimmer's reboots and flops are cataloged ("He does all the reboots of these movies—all bad," says Mike Mitchell [31:18]).

9. Motherly Love, Dubious Child Relationships, and Plot Potholes

• Unintended creepy overtones are noticed in the mother-son dynamic between Ultraviolet and the boy (31:48–32:18).
• Jason Mantzoukas: “There were times where I felt as though she was about to kiss him.” [31:48]
• The group attempts to reconstruct the film’s narrative logic—continually getting derailed by inconsistencies (34:03–37:22).

10. Blood Chinois and Other Nonsense

• The mention of "Blood Chinois" (a rival gang/caste?) offers no narrative payoff beyond confusion (39:49–40:49).
• “They’re just all dead and that’s it.” – Nick Wiger [40:38]

11. Audience Q&A: Unanswerable Questions

• Live attendees ask about disease transmission, world rules, the time frame (does the movie take place over just nine hours?!), and why the boy is pixelated (51:58–64:05).
• Jason Mantzoukas: “I feel like every scene was from a different movie. Every scene followed different rules.” [59:00]

12. Comedy Tangents: Pixels, Q*Bert, and Video Game Baby Gestation

• The panel derails into a hilarious digression about Adam Sandler’s Pixels and QBert’s implied sex life (64:13–68:34), riffing on absurd intertextuality and the tragic life of QBert.

13. Critical Consensus: None of It Works

• Repeatedly, the hosts emphasize that the movie is not fun-bad but joyless, incoherent, and interminable despite its short runtime (88:49–91:02).
  • Paul Scheer: “I'm glad that we watch it and this conversation is better than the movie, but you shouldn't subject yourself to that.” [89:02]
  • Nick Wiger: “It's joyless... there’s nothing fun about this. It’s just a slog.” [89:11]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I felt watching this movie as if I was a video game. Poorly.”—Jason Mantzoukas [03:47]
• “This movie is like the opposite of world-building.”—Paul Scheer [25:13]
• “I’m a vamp nut…at 46:20, I was like, it’s a fucking vampire movie. I did not know for 46 minutes.”—Mike Mitchell [09:29]
• “She’s pissed off. That’s her superpower.”—Paul Scheer [50:00]
• “It's joyless. There's nothing fun about this. It's just a slog.” – Nick Wiger [89:11]
• “Mila Jovovich is so, so pretty, and it was so nice to see her all the time. She really helps this movie a lot. But I guess it helps if a person is a guy and single…” (Second Opinion Amazon review, read by Paul Scheer) [80:21]
• “There were times where I felt as though she was about to kiss him (the little boy).”—Jason Mantzoukas [31:48]
• “Every week, you guys go to a different chain restaurant... you feel physically ill after doing the episode because the food you're eating is bad. And I feel like you guys are poisoning yourselves.” —Paul Scheer on the Doughboys [93:37]

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | Highlights | |-----------|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:00 | Opening thoughts on Milla Jovovich | Hosts’ unfamiliarity, intro of guests | | 07:06 | Comic book montage critique | Not a real adaptation; “shitty CGI” | | 09:29 | "Vampire" realization | Mike’s delayed discovery of the film’s premise | | 13:02 | Lack of Dialogue | “Put all the dialogue together…eight, nine minutes, maybe.” | | 25:13 | World-building confusion | “It’s the opposite of world-building.” | | 28:24 | Dialogue drought | Nearly 25 minutes without significant dialogue | | 31:48 | Ultraviolet's relationship with the boy| “She was about to kiss him…” | | 39:49 | “Blood Chinois” discussion | Gang/caste with unclear role | | 51:58 | Audience Q&A | Rules of transmission, logic holes | | 59:00 | Every scene from a different movie | Montage of inconsistencies | | 64:13 | Pixels / Q*Bert tangent | Hilarious non-sequitur riff on video game babies | | 88:49 | Final recommendations | Unanimous “Do not watch!” |

Tone & Language

Throughout the episode, the cast mixes deadpan incredulity with sharp, exasperated wit. Inside jokes and recurring bits (Mike’s recumbent bike, Nick and Mike’s self-loathing on Doughboys, audience Q&A chaos) mix with direct readings of baffling Amazon user reviews—emphasizing just how incomprehensible yet compellingly awful Ultraviolet is as a “bad movie night” misfire.

Conclusion & Final Recommendations

All panelists strongly advise against watching Ultraviolet, branding it “joyless,” “confusing,” and “not even fun-bad.” The episode, however, stands as a celebration of befuddling, failed cinema and the camaraderie of figuring out how, exactly, this got made.

For more off-the-rails movie breakdowns, subscribe to “How Did This Get Made?” and check out the Doughboys for their chain-restaurant misadventures.