Starts out really great, then it's just a mediocre thriller

Rating: 6/10 (21 January 2014)

I guess the script follows the book it is based on and the producers were shy about improving on the source material. Visually they did a great job, but the story turns into a no-brainer after the first act.
Limitless starts out very well though I must admit while I am fed up with the "struggling writer" cliché - a clearly over-represented population in movies. Our Faustian hero could have been anything, from lacklustre student to small-business entrepreneur, it doesn't matter. The main point is about using drugs to enhance your capabilities, to raise above the fray, to "become successful", to realise oneself... and what is the trade-off, the after effects? Obviously those points are too philosophical in this story, the side-effects are vaguely used as a plot turn and then the ending simply rushes a solution to forget about it. So to me it is a major failure not to set the story inside a dystopian/noir context. What further cheapens the fine Faustian premise is the "criminal" subplot. Hero decides to make a lot of money for his big projects so he just goes to borrow money from some shabby thug. That is really clever. And he just forgets to pay him back, and then his big project is to become a drug-addicted President with the brains to change the world.
One thing is sure, the writers didn't have NZT at their disposal.