Out-of-work writer Eddie Morra's (Bradley Cooper) rejection by girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) confirms his belief that he has zero future. That all vanishes the day an old friend introduces Eddie to MDT, a designer pharmaceutical that makes him laser focused and more confident than any man alive. Now on an MDT-fueled odyssey, everything Eddie's read, heard or seen is instantly organized and available to him. As the former nobody rises to the top of the financial world, he draws the attention of business mogul Carl Van Loon (De Niro), who sees this enhanced version of Eddie as the tool to make billions. But brutal side effects jeopardize his meteoric ascent.
It is rumored that we only use 10% of our brain's potential. Even if it's not true, one thing is certain – we don't use all the power that hides in it, residing in our skull. Imagine if learning new languages took few hours instead of years. Imagine learning whole subjects and huge books almost as fast as it was in “The Matrix”. With knowledge comes power and with it exciting, new possibilities. Lack of inspiration? Lack of energy? Lack of will to do anything? Forget about them. What would you do to posses the mind without any limitations?
Eddie is a burned out writer until he takes mysterious, possibly dangerous drug. That drug releases his mind's full potential – Eddie writes new book, learns new things and because of how fast he can think and connect the dots he turns into brilliant maverick, who impresses everyone around him. All the information he had in his head, that he was unable to access before because of his brain's human limits, are now available to him. His old girlfriend is stunned by his transformation, the job offers come purring in, his editor can't wait to publish his book. But when you have something everyone else covet, the trouble begin.
“Limitless” has impressive beginning and until the moment the thriller movie kicks in the film is very good. From great opening sequence through the scene where Eddie first takes the drug and his perception changes to the clever editing and depiction of his new “powers” the movie takes you in. But when the intrigue angle appears the film goes downhill and as it progresses it fails to pick up the interest, we initially had in it. The story starts to become cliché - with bad guys chasing Eddie, big money and politics being involved and ,of course, with our main character having a gap in his memory. We saw it dozens of times before and it's especially annoying here, because the potential hiding in “Limitless” was very big - ironically, when the character runs out of his drug, the movie starts running out of its energy. The most disappointing part is the ending – the movie like this needs something strong happening in the end of the story and unfortunately all you are left with is the thought echoing in your head - “that's it?!”
Even with the story filled with plot holes and slowing down and falling into stereotypical action movie genre, the movie is very well made – the images change as Eddie's brain is slowing down or works on superhuman level – blue marks ordinary, golden marks the moments Eddie is on the drug. There are many scenes with effective tunnel vision and although the movie has PG-13 rating there are many clever, gory moments, with the exception of one, which made movie dumber even more so than during chase scenes and ice slate sequence. The music is great and carries the pace of the film, energizes it and doesn't fade from mind right after seeing it.
The cast is well chosen – Bradley Cooper, the man who is surely going to be one of Hollywood's leading man on duty quite soon, does a very good job. He's likeable, he had viewer's sympathy even when he was the biggest ass of the group in “The Hangover”. Cooper may not have astonishingly great looks, but with his piercing blue eyes and charisma he carries the movie very well. Robert De Niro appears in a decent supporting performance, but I wish someone less known played his character. De Niro doesn't deliver performance strong enough to make you forget you are watching one of the most well known stars in the world and it takes you out of the film, making you unable to take scenes including him seriously. “Limitless” also includes two actresses I'm very fond of – Anna Friel, who finally started getting roles in more well known films and even if the parts are small she still makes a lasting impression and Abbie Cornish, impressive young actress from “Elizabeth – Golden Age”, “Candy” and “Bright Star”, soon to be seen in “Sucker Punch”. Both of them are underused, especially Cornish who disappears somewhere in the middle and we only see her in the end of the film. That leads me to believe many scenes ended up on the floor of editing room.
“Limitless” is a decent entertainment, but the thought behind is much better than the movie itself. The beginning promises to deliver more than just an action movie, but unfortunately it doesn't. The movie is worth seeing for its flawless execution and strong cast. Plus who knows, maybe it's prophetic in a way - I can only imagine everyone of us would like to have magical pill like that – the pill that essentially makes you God of your own universe. And there always be people willing to deliver it and make a fortune out of somebody's tragedy.
67/100
*plot summary - imdb.com
http://www.lastfm.pl/user/lady_sati/journal/2011/03/23/4afnz8_%22limitless%22._the_review.
