Fanaticalaboutfilms Review: Limitless

Rating: 7/10 (22 March 2011)

15 - 105mins - Mystery/Thriller - 23rd March 2011
Soon to be released on the 23rd of March, Limitless focuses around the life of writer Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) a man who is heading nowhere fast in life; he is most definitely in the slow lane. The book he's currently working on has reached healthy zero words after an extended spell of writers block and his love life is trending down a similar road.
Cue a chance encounter with an old acquaintance and the discovery of a way to escape the mundane world that he is currently calling his life. The way you ask? Take a pill, a simple clear pill that will solve all his problems. It has the ability to open up access to all of his brain function rather than his current 20% and release the boundaries and confines that he was once restricted to. Realising that nothing can get much worse than it already is he uses it and things immediately become easy for him. The only slight issue being he does not have an endless supply and that unsurprisingly he is not the only one who knows of its existence.
Whether meant to be ironic or not the first time you see Eddie you could be forgiven for thinking he was on drugs and as the movie progresses along with his life thanks to the help of the drug, NZT-48 he cleans up his act. Cooper does a good job of self narrating the well written script that gives us some funny moments and dry wit to boot whilst his ability to move between the two altering personalities while he is on and off the drug is impressive.
De Niro and Cornish play their parts well but are not given enough screen time to develop their characters into noteworthy performances as most of the focus is kept on Eddie. This leads me into my only slight disappointment with the movie in that the secondary characters seem to get no mention, then appear for ten to fifteen minutes before disappearing never to be seen or referenced to again making the plot slightly disjointed to say the least.
This is countered by the fact that I absolutely love the cinematography and the way that this movie has been constructed. The effect carried out at the opening credits as the camera continuously tunnel zooms through the urban nightlife sets the standard for the rest of the film. When on the drug everything is brighter, people are well groomed and then when off it everything is gloomier/darker so as to visualise the emotions and state of mood being felt in Eddie's mind. Not only that but you can feel the heightened effect the drug is having as more things are put on screen to engage the viewer and get you thinking while at the same time the camera flits about the place as the tempo is increased to indicate Eddie's enhanced brain activity.
SPOILER Don't read on if you don't want to find out about some of the plot! The movie ties up most lose ends but nothing is ever really made of the death/murder of the girl in the hotel room drawing back to my point of token extra characters. This could be meant to be sinister especially with the lawyer stating that someone had the decency to wipe the place of prints. Also the ever increasing desperation and the willingness to do anything for that next hit (drinking the blood off the floor) could have been played on a bit more to show the true darkness of how drugs can effect us.
All in all Limitless was a very enjoyable film that kept me entertained for its duration. The drug effects on the world around Eddie were cleverly depicted as was most on the CGI letting you feel the drug with him and although I felt they could have pushed the boundaries slightly further and explored the drugs side of things a bit more I was glad to have watched this fun flick.
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