Limitless (2011)
Directed by Neil Burger
Written by Leslie Dixon
Starring Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro, Anna Friel
Release Date March 8th, 2011
Published March 7th, 2011
"Limitless" might have been more aptly titled 'Plot Device: The Movie.' The little clear pill that drives the film's star Bradley Cooper infuses him with whatever ability is needed at any given moment in the movie. At one point, when Cooper is assaulted by thugs in the subway, the pill lends him the ability to tap his memory for some Kung Fu he saw on TV years ago and the agility to employ it with force.
Now, as fun as it would be to be able to recall a little Bruce Lee and employ it viciously and at will this bit of wish fulfillment is all there is to "Limitless," a threadbare pseudo-thriller that relies on this limitless device for all of it's narrative force.
Wish Fulfillment
Eddie Morra (Cooper) is a loser, plain and simple. He lives in a dump of an apartment and while he has a contract to write a novel, he hasn't written a word. His girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) sees him for what he is and as we meet her she is dumping him. Things are looking very bleak when Eddie bumps into an old friend with a secret.
Vernon (Johnny Whitworth) is a drug dealer who Eddie knows through his very brief marriage years earlier. Vernon's secret is a new drug he is pushing that he claims is legitimate, even FDA approved. The clear pill with no marketable name allows the user to access portions of his brain not usually accessed.
God in the Machine
After a brief bout of worry, Eddie indeed takes the pill and the effect turns him into a superman of intuition, charm and motivation. Naturally, he will need more of this but to maintain his fix will take him into Eddie's dangerous world of drug dealers, loan sharks and into another, even more untamed frontier, Wall Street; where traders rob each other in ways somehow deemed legal.
I want this pill, I really do, and that identification with Eddie is enticing but it doesn't change the fact that director Brad Furman and screenwriter Leslie Dixon are working with the ultimate 'God in the Machine,' better known in Latin as 'Deus Ex Machina.' The pill allows Eddie and eventually Lindy, an easy escape from any danger and that removes a great deal of the story tension.
A Distinct Lack of Tension
Why worry about characters that can just take a pill and have all of their problems become easy to solve. There is a distinct lack of tension that plagues "Limitless" right to the very end. To be fair, there is one scene; one in which Cooper loses his magic pill, which has significant tension as Eddie is forced to do something unthinkable and entirely unpredictable.
One scene however does not excuse an entire film so blatantly based on a cheap device. Limitless is simply too easy going about it all. Star Bradley Cooper is too comfortable in the confines of this plot cheat, wielding it all with a confidence that only magnifies how shabby it all is.
If you're someone who doesn't like to think when you are at the movies, "Limitless" might just be the movie for you. The pill doesn't just help Eddie do anything; it helps the audience as well taking away all of that pesky sifting of plot details or deciphering of mysteries and especially all of that scary anxiety that comes when a movie challenges an audience.
