Limitless

Introduction

Drugs are bad, m'kay?

The war on drugs continues to waged on our city streets and the debate of the pro's and cons of Class A and Class B drugs continues unabated. In Hollywood, the majority of films released show drugs in a bad light, despite more than a few of the people involved in making these films actually taking large quantities of drugs at parties out in the open that would put the ordinary citizen behind bars. Drug taking is also prolific within the music industry with many of our idols indulging in the habit, more than a few professing that it enhances the creative urge. And so, a film comes along that actually agrees with that arguement.

Aspiring author Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) has a book contract and received a generous advance to deliver a novel. The problem is that Eddie is suffering from chronic and constant writer's block, unable to even write the opening line of his book. His agent is exasperated and his long-suffering girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) leaves him due to having to support him both financially and emotionally. Eddie also looks like a junkie or a drop out, a result of his laziness and apathy.

Then one day Eddie bumps into his ex-brother in law Vernon (Johnny Whitworth) who persuades him to try a new drug on the market called NZT, that will free his mind, the rest will follow. Eddie is a bit sceptical but gives it a shot, and very quickly finds his life changing. NZT has the power to give Eddie access to all of his memories, allow him to learn any language in a matter of days and solve complex problems extremely quickly. Another nice side effect that Eddie exploits ruthlessly with the opposite sex is the ability to beguile whoever he speaks to. His only problem is that this all only works whilst he is taking the drug.

Initially Eddie uses his new found power to complete his book in days, but writing then starts to bore him and his attention focuses on the money markets. Now matter what, Eddie finds he isn't making money fast enough and ends up borrowing $100, 000 from shady gangster Gennady (Andrew Howard). Then he finds himself the centre of attention from mega-mogul Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro) who recognises that there is something not normal about the way Eddie is making so much money, but invites him to provide advice on the biggest merger in corporate history.

It's not all plain sailing for Eddie though. He starts to suffer from NZT's rather strong and strange side effects, and it turns out the drug isn't approved. These side effects include time seeming to speed up, leaving Eddie with a number of lost hours that he is unable to account for plus the dead body of a young beautiful socialite he charmed into bed but unable to remember if he was the one who killed her. Meanwhile, Eddie also attracts the attention of people who now suspect he is in possession of NZT and finds himself attempting to dodge and outwit mysterious stalkers, vicious gangsters and the police...

Picture

Picture is pretty sharp as you would expect from a modern blockbuster. What is of note is that on at least two occassions the pictures shoots forward as if in motion and continues that way for at least 30 seconds.  It's a little disconcerting as this isn't something you usually see and those who suffer from motion sickness should be wary of this.

There are also some neat SFX to convey the idea of thinking and problem resolution, but in fairness I've seen similar before on more than one TV show such as Numb3rs.

Extras

Commentary - with director Neil Burger

Trailer

Alternate Ending - only a couple of lines different from the actual ending and pretty much interchangeable, although I prefer the original ending

Taking It To The Limit: The Making of Limitless

A Man Without Limits

Overall

So I guess the overriding message from this film is that drugs are good for you if they unleash your potential and allow you to make tons of money in the process. Oddly the freeing of the mind is the only high, so Cooper's character is never 'high' as such apart from the odd effect of losing time. He also goes from looking like a junkie to actually becoming very smartly dressed and much more intelligent. This is almost the reversal of most drug addictions, although again there is never any indication that Cooper is addicted, more that his powers will wain if he stops. There is definately an element of cold turkey or withdrawal symptoms, alluded to with several unseen NZT users dying or suffering severely from prolonged use.

Bradley Cooper, last seen as Face in The A-Team, is the perfect actor for the character of Eddie Morra as he needs to act pretty cocky and arrogant in order for the story to work and clearly playing Face gave him the necessary practice. In fact, I could just as easily see a young Dirk Benedict playing this role with ease as well. Abbie Cornish does a good enough job as the exasperated ex-girlfriend whilst Anna Friel pops in briefly as Cooper's drug addled ex-wife. De Niro is suitably menacing as the hard nosed business type, and Andrew Howard is suitably over the top as the psychotic Russian gangster. Johnny Whitworth is also suitably shady and untrustworthy as the dealer who gets Cooper into the mess in the first place, with a rather starched-looking quiff.

Despite my misgivings over the film's morals, this is quite a good story that explores the possible reasons why some people get ahead of others. As someone who has never, and hopefully will never, touch such substances, I found the story plausible but also a little disconcerting. I also found that whilst I was interested in Cooper's character, I wasn't actually rooting for him. In fact, I was kind of hoping he'd come a cropper for using artificial means to get ahead. Oh well...