Review of Limitless (2011) by Shiira — 28 Mar 2011

Let the eye-rolling begin. It's the customary reaction whenever you tell people you that you're writing a novel. Let their eyes roll, you think, because on a good day, you literally feel like a god, as the words congest the previously white spaces of the page teeming with life; the life that you invented from the brain you would kiss on the cerebellum if the law of physics permitted it.

But not everyday spent in Bohemia is a happy one. The prospective writer, just like Eddie Morra(Bradley Cooper), can sit at his desk and produce nothing for hours on end, abiding by the "stay in the room" principle to no avail, while people in the outside world with real jobs lead productive and fulfilling lives.

An unsuccessful writer can suck the life out of your very being. Tired of being a "cleaning lady" and "bank", the writer's girlfriend, Lindy(Abby Cornish), indicates her preference for those punch the clock types when she dumps him, even though, you would think, an editor would have more patience than most women, since she is in the book biz.

Before things can get any worse, Eddie has a fortuitous run-in with his ex-brother-in-law, Vernon(Johnny Whitworth), who gives him a special pill, a black market substance called NZT, which is designed to maximize the brain's potential, and in Eddie's case, cures his writer's block and allows him to finish the novel.

"Limitless" should have stayed on this path, a writing path, instead of veering off into more sexy narrative terrain. With all that access to the brain's potential, Eddie could have started a new religion and be its charismatic spokesperson.

"Limitless" could have been a treatise about the dangers of rhetoric, but the film is just not that ambitious, so it settles on being a dumb generic thriller about high financing on Wall Street, conspiracies, and who ultimately has control over the magic pills.

The moviegoer doesn't care how NZT affects a Russian loan shark, since, in Vernon's words, "it works better if you're already smart." Turning his back on Bohemia, Eddie becomes a financial wizard, in which "Limitless" then gets bogged down with deadly boring talk about corporate mergers, involving Van Loon(Robert DeNiro), who wants this newbie to restructure his deal.

"Limitless" forgets that it had the makings of a pretty nifty science-fiction mindbender. Under NZT, large chunks of time go unaccounted for, and as a result, Eddie may or may not have murdered a socialite in a hotel room.

A detective questions him, but he is never formally charged. It's as if he's getting away with murder. Since Eddie, at one point, drinks another man's blood laced with NZT, it's hard not to connect "Limitless" with the Christian Bale character in Mary Harron's ultra-violent "American Psycho", whose Patrick Bateman also gets away with murder.

Both films touch on the superficial nature of society. Curiously, "Limitless" is quite limited in its scope. Anybody can make a killing on the market, or run for the senate. With a better script, Eddie would rule the world.