Director: Neil Burger
Running time: 1 hour and 44 minutes
Limitless tells the story of Eddie (Bradley Cooper) and his crazy journey after he is introduced, for the first time, to the newest, not-so-legal, drug NZT-48. There are murders, schemes, backstabbings and everything else you can imagine. And it is all for a little clear pill. A pill that offers you limitless possibilities. A pill that offered Eddie limitless possibilities.
I first saw this movie when i was 16 or something like that. I put it in the back of my head and since then I've never watched it or thought about it again. That was until a couple of months ago when i came across it browsing for a movie to watch. But, again, i put it in the "to watch" file and moved on. Until today. Today i decided to watch limitless one more time. And i am very glad i did.
You probably guessed it already but i loved this movie.
I liked how Eddie started up, as a writer who had lost his way. He was obviously smart and capable, otherwise he wouldn't have a book deal to begin with, but he had gotten himself into a hole like so many people in real life do. So Eddie was always intelligent, the drug just enhanced his potential. However, the NZT-48 was still a drug and i appreciated how that was portrayed in the movie. You see how great it felt for Eddie when he was on it but, also, how addicted he was (hint: there was blood-drinking and no one was a vampire). You realised the length that someone would go to to get a fix and Eddie's NZT-48 addiction was no different. And in the same subject NZT-48 was not only addictive like real drugs, it, also, had very serious side effects. We see the side effects at an early stage in Eddie and at a more serious stage in his ex-girlfriend.
One of the things i liked the most about Limitless was the ending, for a couple of reasons. First of all, the fact that SPOILER ALERT!!! Van Loon (Robert DeNiro) had learned about the drug and ended up buying a pharmaceutical company that would produce it and destroying the labs Eddie had hired so that he could have an endless supply. And all that so Van Loon could extort him was brilliant in my opinion. And most importantly believable. Van Loon was very successful, smart and competent. While Eddie came out of nowhere, was impressively brilliant (too impressively) and had risen up the corporate ladder way too fast. Van Loon was bound to notice that something was "wrong" and learn about the drug sooner or later. But on the same note, because of the drug Eddie was definitely "the smartest guy in the room", so naturally he would figure out that at some point someone would find out about his secret and try to blackmail him. What he figured out (i won't spoil it) was credible and logical. And as Eddie said at the end "I'm fifteen moves ahead of you and everybody else".Finally, in the end there is a hint of an idea that i always found very interesting in movies (an example of a movie with the same premise especially in the end is The Ides of March). That idea is that politicians hide dark secrets behind a shiny- often false- exterior. That secret, for Eddie, is obviously the NZT but, also, the murder he committed in the begging of his drug use. For which they never found the guilty party.
There were some parts of the movie that i found a bit unnecessary, however. The love story between Eddie and his ex-girlfriend (Abbie Cornish) was a little trivial. I felt that it didn't move the story along, give us an insight into Eddie's personality or contribute in any way to the movie. At least not in a positive one. I found myself being bored by the Lindy scenes and that took me out of a movie that i was really enjoying otherwise. Moreover, regarding the murder Eddie executed. Although it was an important plot device and i do think it was crucial in order to show the drug effects NZT had on Eddie, i believe it didn't concern Eddie as much as it should have. He got out of the whole mess way too quickly. It seems unlikely that the police couldn't find anything that would indicate that Eddie was the murderer.
In conclusion, Limitless was a great film that was thrilling, interesting and fast-paced and in the same time realistic, serious and dramatic. I recommend it without a doubt and i hope everyone enjoys it.
Score: 91%
m.
m.
Courtesy
Relativity Media
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