Product Description
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Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro star in Limitless, a
paranoia-fuelled action thriller that’ll blow your mind.
Unsuccessful writer Eddie Morra’s life is transformed by NZT, a
top-secret “smart drug” that allows him to use 100% of his brain
and to become the perfect version of himself. But when Eddie’s
enhanced abilities attract unwanted attention from the rich and
powerful alike, he soon realises they’ll stop at nothing to
uncover his secret.
.co.uk Review
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Depending on your take-away of the visual inventiveness
and jam-packed plot that drives Limitless to peaks and valleys of
preous fun, drugs are either a terrible scourge or the
fundamental solution to all of life's problems. Limitless isn't
exactly a morality tale, but the made-up drug that turns Eddie
Morra (Bradley Cooper) from a scuzzy loser into a master of the
universe does become a metaphor for ambition, menace,
devastation, and ultimate success. Eddie is a writer who can't
write, his girlfriend (Abbie Cornish) just dumped him, and his
squalid lifestyle has driven him to the breaking point. After a
chance meeting with his mysterious ex-brother-in-law, he's
offered change in the form of a little transparent button, a pill
code-named NZT that allows the user to access 100 percent of
their brain. After he pops it, Eddie is transformed. Everything
he's ever heard, seen, glanced at, or passed by becomes neatly
ordered in his mind. He has total recall, total access to
knowledge both known and unknown, and he understands exactly what
to do. Without the ingenious visual effects that frequently push
the bounds of innovation, our view of the alteration of Eddie's
drug-induced reality would fail utterly. When his synapses snap
from every new hit, the sparkling blue of Bradley Cooper's eyes
pops off of the screen, the colours and textures of his reality
ripple and zoom with his every move. Of course he needs more of
the drug to maintain his progression, not to mention his very
life--remember, kids, drugs are addictive!
The movie throws tangled clumps of plot threads against each
other in a whizzing mass that incorporates Russian gangsters,
shadowy surveillance figures, cops, lawyers, and a couple of
murder mysteries. It's a hurtling progression of narrative
tangents that often echo the physical and mental extremes Eddie
experiences when he's either on or off the drug. Sex, society,
and money are big parts of Eddie's newfound brainpower, and he
exploits them all. The money element leads Eddie to a big-
investor, played with twinkling irony by Robert De Niro. The
sparring matches between Cooper and De Niro are some of the best
parts of the convoluted and manic pace that drives Limitless
inexorably onward. Abbie Cornish is relegated to the sidelines
far too much, and the suspension of disbelief required to simply
maintain stride with the movie's frenzied velocity is often
exhausting. But there are some bigger themes that director Neil
Burger and writer Leslie Dixon try to sustain in spite of
repeated absurdities meant to be accepted at face value. Eddie's
actions are both vile and redemptive, and Cooper gives a rousing
performance as he bounces from being contemptible to
irresistible, sometimes all at once. Fortunately, Limitless is
itself redeemed by the nifty visuals that often do evoke the
effects of a drug that promises perfect clarity. It's best to
just forget the ludicrous lack of coherence and enjoy it as a
wildly entertaining trip on a perfect drug that offers the
potential for payback and infinite salvation. --Ted Fry