The chronic myth of humans utilizing only 10-20 percent of their brains is one that has been reiterated many times in the past century. Contrary though is the scientific fact that an average person uses just about 100 percent of their brains on a daily basis. It’s the energy department where the limit comes into play. The human body allots around 20 percent of its power to brain functions. But what if there was an “overdrive” option? A way for the brain to receive five times the energy it consumes on a regular basis. Limitless is a film that attempts to address this scenario, but regrettably does not contain the limitless imagination required to do so.
Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper, The Hangover) is the stereotypical out of work, hygiene challenged author with a drinking problem and writer’s block living in New York City. Just as Eddie is about to hit rock bottom, he runs into his drug dealing ex brother-in-law Vernon (Johnny Whitworth, Empire Records), who has supposedly “moved up” to legitimate pharmaceuticals. Taking pity on Eddie, Vernon offers him a pill not yet available to the public to help with his creative dead end. Recently dumped by his girlfriend and only a few days away from being evicted, Eddie feels he has nothing left to lose. Similar to overclocking a computer’s CPU, Eddie’s brain now runs at an unprecedented level, granting him total recall to even the most mundane observations throughout his life and the ability to calculate information at a rate that would make IBM jealous.
Naturally these gifts are not without serious side effects. As Eddie reaches beyond his humble world of creative writing into the cutthroat realm of the stock market, he begins to overmedicate, attracting unwanted attention from others hooked on the drug and those who just want to control him.
Leslie Dixon, who in the past has triumphed in writing adapted screenplays like 2000’s Pay It Forward, was not able to replicate the same level of excellence with Limitless. The life-altering abilities bestowed on the character of Eddie are used in the most predictable of ways. Initially though, it’s completely understandable and even necessary for the character to give in to his most primal desires as the drug Eddie takes does not necessarily transform a person into a genius, rather it gives that person incredible clarity and enhances the learning capabilities of their inherent intellect. Eddie’s desires and life goals progress nicely and keep in line with his base personality, but when he comes to the crossroads of realization that material possessions, sex and money will never be enough to satisfy him, his next venture is incredibly disheartening and beneath his capabilities.
Director Neil Burger (The Illusionist, 2006) opens the film by taking the audience on an enjoyable roller coaster ride through Eddie’s super cerebellum by utilizing some clever and disorienting camera techniques, translating to the audience what it might be like to possess such a brain. However, this innovation comes to a sudden halt midway through the film and redundancy sets in. Eddie’s ambitions and the methods he uses to try and achieve them are no more grand or original than someone with a brain powered by a Duracell.
The story also commits the science fiction faux pas of all but completely ignoring the origin of the super pill, nor does it ever truly explain how it works. The best explanation offered is a flimsy account from Vernon, whose sketchy background and access to a drug of this nature is left out as well.
On the performance side, Bradley Cooper’s evolution as an actor takes another step forward. He’s able to switch on a very likable presence when needed; separating this character miles apart from some of the seedy and unscrupulous ones he’s previously portrayed. Oddly though, the film takes an unsettling turn for Cooper’s character in the latter stages with some gratuitous violence, including a scene that would more appropriately fit into a very different film also starring Cooper, 2008’s The Midnight Meat Train.
Then there is the role of antagonist Carl Van Loon, played by film legend Robert De Niro. Van Loon, who’s character is as vapid as his name, is a Wall Street tycoon that wants to harness Eddie’s ability into working solely for his corporation. To waste his time with a part this empty, De Niro may have been carrying out a personal favor or received a limitless amount of zeros on the end of his paycheck. Genuinely, hundreds if not thousands of actors with varying degrees of skill could have played this character to achieve the same indifferent effect. And then to add some lemon juice to the paper cut, De Niro himself seems to have been miscast. His character looks exposed and out of place in the financial world setting, delivering lines and facial expressions in a way that embodies too much Goodfellas and not enough Wall Street.
Limitless is yet another science fiction letdown that relies entirely on the novelty of a fantastic premise, unable to delve deeply enough into uncharted territory. Even the film’s title is detrimentally ironic. There are several key moments, including a lazy ending, which could have been used as launching pads for the story to leap to the next level. But unfortunately, the only thing that is truly limitless in this film is the amount of virtual walls, stunting the story.
Story: 6.0
Acting: 7.0
Writing: 5.5
Captivation: 7.0
Replay Value: 6.5
Total = 6.4
