One pill makes you smaller...

Rating: 9/10 (17 November 2011)

Limitless Limitless - directed by Neil Burger
If you could take a pill that would make you smart no, let's change that premise. If you could take a pill that would increase your intelligence – a distinct difference – would you take it? Of course, you would. Who wouldn't? That is the ultimate temptation to the ignorant world. We look around and see ignorance and complacency all around us. Consider ignorance as you would a plague. Mankind has suffered under its yoke since its inception, when we stood upright and some of us chose to build things rather than swing in trees – only now, you know the tree thing is silly in comparison. The pill makes it possible to possess the highest form of intelligence without any kind of hindrance. Remove all obstacles to reason, and you've created the ultimate moment in gathering disparate facts, putting them together, and making intelligence a tool for advanced development. You would be vastly superior to nearly everyone else around you. This is the premise of "Limitless" and the goal of scientists for many generations.
To say we use twenty percent of our brain is a misnomer. We use all of our brain constantly – to walk, to eat, to breathe, to see, to hear, and memorize most of what we experience. Much of that experience is not stored for recall later only packets of what we read, what we see, what we hear is actually stored for our use. We compartmentalize our experiences. However, we use only twenty percent of what we know at any one time to make informed decisions based on our memory. What if you could take information you learned, say, thirty years ago, or seven years ago, or even three months ago, and apply it to a present situation. That would involve more of your brain's capacity to reason. Some people can use more than twenty percent to make informed decisions. But no human uses one hundred percent of their mind's capacity all of the time.
In "Limitless," washed up "science-fiction writer," (why do they have to be washed up science fiction writers, damn it!) Eddie Morra, encounters an old friend, an acquaintance really, who gives him a sample of an experimental drug (AZT, NZT, something like that its name is not important). He also happens to be Eddie's ex-brother-in-law from a failed marriage. He sees how Eddie is down on his luck and could use a hand only he fails to tell Eddie everything about the drug he offers Eddie, only that it will transform his life.
What does Eddie have to lose? His girlfriend left him. His publisher cuts him off. He's about to be evicted. So, he takes the drug. In a wonderful bit of make-up and lighting special effects, Eddie changes. His skin takes on a certain healthy glow. His blue eyes now sparkle. His facial affect has that tone of wisdom about it (kudos to actor Bradley Cooper for making the facial transition so convincing. Without his ability to perform this interior transformation, the film would lose its credibility). Eddie goes home and rattles off forty pages to the book he had hardly touched. The next day, the publisher is beating down his door for more. Eddie is thrilled with the prospect he could become successful. Yet, Eddie makes a horrible discovery, one that drives him back to his brother-in-law's apartment – the drug has an addictive quality to it. The down side, in a nutshell – stop using it and it will kill you! Driven to near madness, Eddie realizes he needs to keep going. He agrees to do what is necessary for his brother-in-law and goes to run his errands. When he returns, he finds the apartment turned upside-down and his brother-in-law assassinated. What he also realizes is that, in the middle of this intrigue, the burglars failed to find what Eddie also wanted, the drug. He finds the "stash," avoids the pursuant police investigation, and begins a meteoric rise in society.
"Limitless" is a wild roller-coaster ride, a movie on caffeine; no car chases, explosions, or emphasis on CGI. It's just good plain storytelling. Without a good director at the helm, Brad Cooper may have overplayed his hand. However, thanks to director Neil Burger (The Illusionist), character Eddie Morra has all the subtly needed to pull off the weighty role convincingly. We believe Eddie's transformations, which continue throughout the film, from street bum, to smart savvy jet-setter, to intellectual, to driven drug addict and beyond. Had this film come out in December, I would suggest Cooper's portrayal as Oscar-worthy. It is that good. He has help along the way with a great supporting cast, that includes Robert DeNiro as a corporate fat cat bad guy and a pretty but gullible girlfriend in Abbie Cornish as Lindy. However, most of the film is dependent on Brad Cooper. He is in every scene and dominates every shot. This is his film to sell or lose. He comes off with panache.
The opening "credits" shot is one of the most unique in cinema history. It appears as one continuous zoom shot (used again later to suggest the passage of time), which takes us from one end of New York's Manhattan to its opposite end in a matter of seconds. The unique blend of forward movement, kept in focus, while adding continuous motion has never been put on the screen in this way. I applaud both the camera work of Belgium DP Jo Willems, along with Editors Tracy Adams and Naomi Geraghty, whose camera work and seamless cuts place the audience right in the middle of the action. Veteran makeup artist Janeen Schreyer also gets mention for the expert job of helping to transform Cooper through his constantly changing personality.
"Limitless" is unpredictable, exciting, compelling, and thrilling. I would also venture to say that "Limitless" is the best film I've seen this year, easily. Highly recommended.