A Great Movie that missed satisfaction

Rating: 8/10 (1 December 2011)

As a review I would start with the filming. It was great New York City all over. And that's good. Pasting the city scape into the movie was done well - as if the editor knew the city well. And I like that. Casting was OK and did not reach too far into the Toy world of greed and money, but instead used the filming to tell the story without Glitz and Glamour to prove the point of the story. Music was OK without adding pop or street crawl. It was good and basic background music that fit, as I said, OK. The writing was great as far as it went. Perhaps I just needed More !! And a sequel just may be the answer. I can't see a series erupting from this - but a sequel could move into other realms of the Sci-Fi world's movie stories. Much like Michael Caine's "Harry" moved through time and space - so could "Limitless." There was a terrible amount of holes to be filled throughout the movie as the end came near. And then the ending of the story. It was like an Aesop's Fable with someone telling you the moral of the story instead of it spinning in your own mind. That leaves too many questions, loopholes, and a scenario that yearns for a sequel just to see the final ending. It is an 'almost' great movie only lacking in answers. Everyone played their part well - from the filming, casting, crew, writers, actors, etc. Something is missing. . . And I hate to see DeNiro not finish something once he has taken the Pill of Success.
I give this movie a 7 out of 10. I could see another production easily raising that much higher. But we know that won't happen in this world of Copyrights. My biggest problem (and please forgive me for this fault I have always had) is that this movie like so many other good but not great movies end too quickly without giving me satisfaction. Perhaps this should have been a Mini Series expanding on all the aspects of the characters much deeper - expanding outside of Downtown Manhattan - expanding the plot longer for each change and outcome of situations. It's a problem I have always had with great movies that end without satisfaction.