A mysterious pill that enables the user to access 100% of his brain's abilities transforms a struggling writer into a financial wizard, but it also puts him in a new world with many dangers.A mysterious pill that enables the user to access 100% of his brain's abilities transforms a struggling writer into a financial wizard, but it also puts him in a new world with many dangers.A mysterious pill that enables the user to access 100% of his brain's abilities transforms a struggling writer into a financial wizard, but it also puts him in a new world with many dangers.
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My main problem with the film, however, is directly linked to why I liked it so much. Due to being based on a long book that would take hours and hours of reading, the story gets condensed and sped up, so plot points fly by one after the other and no time is wasted on anything useless which keeps it fast paced and engaging. However, this also means that problems and events that should have had more time get roughly 10 minutes to begin and conclude, downplaying their significance somewhat. Problems that seem dire get dealt with very quickly, seemingly with no side effects. The plot also lacks an overriding goal - a destination, it seems as if Eddie (Bradley Cooper) just takes things as they come rather than have an overall game plan, and it leaves you a bit dissatisfied in places as it feels it lacks direction, where in the book it would be more spread out and natural. OK, bad's out the way - now the good! The film is very well written; the script is very tight and has clearly been cut down for efficiency yet still natural and the acting is brilliant also. All characters are very convincing and Bradley Cooper's intelligent Eddie is so entertaining, convincing and endearing that you eventually love the character and rejoice every time he has to explain anything to the normal humans.
Some of the action scenes are a bit naff, but otherwise very well done, but besides Bradley Cooper's performance, I'd say the main prize goes to the director - Neil Burger. My hat goes off to him for his visual imagination - his transitions between different locations are the best I've ever seen in a film and it really encapsulates Eddie's disorientation when he blacks out on and off. The effects used to illustrate the effects of the drug are also brilliant; sometimes you forget the voice over and just get lost in the special effects - such as the one in the trailer when the letters fall from the ceiling. The only thing I would complain about is the fact that he often uses extreme close ups excessively and it gets a bit distracting, but nothing compared to how compelling this film was. It was clever, but not genius, it was thrilling, but not mind blowing - it was just a lot of fun. Definitely worth seeing if you're an aspiring director or just a person with eyes in their face.
So, the good: Original, creative writing. Original, creative, beautiful cinematography. Original, creative direction. Interesting throughout. Believable, except when it isn't trying to be. Good pacing. Well acted.
The bad: Some scenes stretch credulity. Most by just a little. The fore-last scene is over the top. I loved it. (My wife said: "They're trying to pull a Tarrantino. Right?" and they were.) I can't blame anyone who says this scene ruined the movie for him. It isn't believable. It isn't consistent with the rest. But it's definitely where the roller-coaster that is this movie is at its most extreme. By contrast, the last scene left me with a feeling of something missed. It's like the script saves the best for the sequel.
So, unfortunately, this movie doesn't have an ending that makes you forgive it for everything else. Quite on the contrary. It just happens to be so good that I was willing to forgive it its bad ending.
Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper attempting to break away from his guy roles in road show movies) is a wannabe writer - a man who has been attempting to write a novel for years but has not achieved one word on a page. He lives off his girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) who finally gives up on his mess of a life. Eddie moves into a filthy flat and he takes on the appearance of a street person until he encounters his ex-wife's (Anna Friel) brother Vernon (Johnny Whitworth) who gives Eddie a pill called NZT, a medication that is purportedly able to make the brain use 100% of its capacity (fragments of memory, encountered headlines, books slightly read etc all become immediately available to the 'patient'). Eddie, seeing his life going down the toilet, takes the pill and suddenly becomes multilingual, able to figure out number sequences at the gambling table, not only start but finish his novel, etc: in other words, a genius - for the 24 hour duration of the pill's effect. His changed life introduces him to, of course, the stock market where he makes it so big that he garners the attention of major player Carl Van Loon (Robert DeNiro) - along with the people involved with the now murdered Vernon who want the drug back: evil Gennady (Andrew Howard) and his thugs (Eddie Fernandez and Ray Siegle) a strange 'man in a tan coat' (Tomas Arana) et al. Eddie struggles through the transition, sells his novel, wins Lindy back, and some years later is running for New York Senator on his way to the Presidency of the United States. And that of course leads to the messy ending that began the film.
Based on the novel 'The Dark Fields' by Alan Glynn, the screenplay (full of holes perhaps due to the same writer's block as the main character's) is by Leslie Dixon and the film is directed by Neil Burger, a man with some creative ideas who concentrates on gimmicks more than plot and character development. And it does have some dazzling visual effects sequences, courtesy of Joe Willems, cinematographer and Connie Brink, Special Effects Coordinator. It is an obvious attempt to compete with the fast action films that make so much box office money, but it is flimsy and may be better off in the DVD category - a category in which it landed early for obvious reasons.
Grady Harp
The movie is of course about an intellectual pill. It's intriguing to know what's the side effects of it. Well, it's quite fun to know what's going to happened to the protagonist but the movie's smartness isn't very limitless. There are massive plot holes in here. There are also some confusion in this.
If there is something limitless in here then it's the entertainment quality. Neil Burger gave a lot of style and ridiculousness in this film. The editing was quite fast and fun. The zooming in through places is amazing. The soundtrack and the music score does perfectly fit in every scene. The performances were good. Bradley Cooper is an entertaining actor but he had some weaknesses in serious scenes like crying or being scared. Robert De Niro only shows up in times but you know him, he is just being himself and there is nothing wrong with that.
Overall the movie is ridiculously fun. The movie is no cliché, it's all unique by so many reasons including the trippy, vertigo, and zooming in style. It's intriguing, it's fast, and it's smart at times. "Limitless" is another movie that has merits that ignore the flaws. It's just a non-stop entertaining solid flick.
I'd definitely recommend watching this movie. If only just for the ridiculous scene with the skates. Hilarious.
Did you know
- TriviaBradley Cooper's father was ill with terminal cancer during the filming of this movie, and Cooper was accordingly relieved that the movie was shot in his hometown of Philadelphia so that he could check on his father every day.
- GoofsIn the cafeteria scene, when Eddie wants a loan of $100,000, he reveals that he quintupled his money four days in a row. Some scenes before, he started his investment with $800. Quintupled four times, that totals $500,000. So, why does he need to borrow money?
- Quotes
Eddie Morra: Well, in order for a career to evolve, I'm gonna have to move on.
Carl Van Loon: That you would even think that would only show me how unprepared you are to be on your own. I mean, you do know you're a freak? Your deductive powers are a gift from God or chance or a straight shot of sperm or whatever or whoever wrote your life-script. A gift, not earned. You do not know what I know because you have not earned those powers. You're careless with those powers, you flaunt them, and you throw them around like a brat with his trust-fund. You haven't had to climb up all the greasy little rungs. You haven't been bored blind at the fundraisers. You haven't done the time and that first marriage to the girl with the right father. You think you can leap over all in a single bound. You haven't had to bribe or charm or threat your way to a seat at that table. You don't know how to assess your competition because you haven't competed. Don't make me your competition
- Alternate versionsAn Unrated Extended Cut makes 27 changes for ~1 minute extra run time. These edits were mainly reverts from not having an R rating for the theatrical release.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.8 (2011)
- SoundtracksCicada
Written by Richard Baluyut, Fontaine Toups and Edward Baluyut
Performed by Versus
Courtesy of Merge Records
By Arrangement with Bank Robber Music
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
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- Also known as
- Sin límites
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $27,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $79,249,455
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $18,907,302
- Mar 20, 2011
- Gross worldwide
- $161,849,455
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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