When you discover the wonder drug, you simply cannot get enough of it.

Rating: 4/10 (5 November 2011)

I was at my friend's house and he decided that he would put this movie on to watch. The movie didn't ring a bell, so I checked out IMDb and the little blurb was that the main character is given superpowers after taking a drug. I think this is not necessarily the theme, or plot, of the movie, but it comes close. The reason I say this is that the main character (Eddie) is an out of work writer who has just lost his high flying girlfriend, and while he is down in the dumps, an old friend (and drug dealer) of his approaches him and offers him this new wonder drug, which he reluctantly takes.
To be honest this isn't a film about superheros this is a film about drugs and about how we become addicted to drugs, and when I am talking about drugs I am not talking about the drugs that we buy off the black market, but rather about anything that we give ourselves over to as a crutch so that we may not only feel good about ourselves but to also give us confidence to do what otherwise we do not believe we are able to do. Some people may call these things drugs, others will call them idols.
Anyway this drug is a drug that is said to clear the mind and to enable one to become incredibly smarter. However the problem is not so much the drug but the supply. First of all the drug does not last forever, and as with all drugs, when the supply is removed then the come down arrives, and while when one is under the influence of the drug, they feel much more than themselves, when the drug begin s to wear off, they begin to feel much less than themselves. What goes up must come down, and the higher you fly the harder you crash.
Not only that, but the more drug that you have the more that you need. The body begins to become used to the drug, so when you take it, you must then have more to get the same effect that you had when you first had the drug. Then there is the case when you have too much of it and you begin to lose yourself, and you then wake up, with a hangover, wondering where you were and what you had done the night before. This movie explores all of these issues with this wonder drug.
Obviously, there is then the final point, and that is that the experiment breaks free of the creator. This movie, while ending with the death of the bad guy, is all about Eddie trying to get more of the drug. He has it the first time, and comes back for more, but his dealer has been killed. He is lucky though because it turns out that the people who killed him want the drugs, but could not find it, though he does. While he has the drugs, everything goes fine, but things begin to fall apart once the drugs begin to run out. However, at the end, it appears that he is able to not only get more, but to be able to produce more, or so it seems. This drug does not destroy the person, but rather makes them into something much more than they were at first, it is only when the drug is removed that the self-destructive phase comes about.
In many cases with the drugs that we know, it is not being under the influence of the drugs that creates a bad person, but rather when they have withdrawn from the drug and must have more. This is not necessarily the case with alcohol, but it is the case with many of the other drugs. While on the drugs, the person is fine, but when the person comes off and starts to have the craving for more, that is when the violence and the bad things happen. It is also the case that the person has now come under the control of their supplier. They must have the drug and the supplier has the drug, and thus there is control. Obviously some users get more violent and intimidating however it is always the question of demand and supply, while you demand the drug from the supplier, whether you like it or not, the supplier has power over you.
I guess that I have now travelled around the world of drugs, and while we may think of things like cocaine, heroin, and other drugs, there is more to the world of drugs (or idols) than these illegal pharmaceuticals. Drugs are little more than idols, and anything that dominates your heart is an idol. Anything that you crave more of with a desire of fulfilment, whether it be wealth or a job or a family, is a drug, the more that we have the more we crave, and the more we crave the more enslaved we become.