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Limitless (2011)

Director: Neil Burger

Time Out rating

Average user rating

25 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Do you like to leave the cinema feeling like someone’s been slagging you off from the back row? Then ‘Limitless’ could be for you. It’s a colourful, brutally nihilistic takedown of all the things most of us hold sacred (love, art, religion, politics) and some of the things we don’t (pharmaceuticals, economics and those who work in pharmaceuticals and economics). Bradley Cooper excels as Eddie Morra, an obsessive character with a million-dollar smile who we meet as an under-motivated New York author and leave as a politician running for high office. In the interim, we chart his addiction to a clear, shirt-button-like pill that harnesses the full power of the brain, turning him from a greasy schlub into a chiselled, all-conquering super-brain. But at what price?

If you think this sounds too ‘Twilight Zone’, then you’re in for a surprise, as ‘Limitless’, based on Alan Glynn’s 2001 novel ‘The Dark Fields’, feels no need for wanton moralising. Instead it bludgeons its victims one by one and leaves a trail of beautiful corpses in its wake. It’s scatty and fast paced, and director Neil Burger employs some Gaspar Noé-style, bad-trip CG effects to heighten the mood. But the main reason the film is so successful and distinctive is that its satire pulls no punches: corporate tycoons are corrupt, unfeeling bastards, but will they really get their comeuppance? And rampant self-medicating of untested drugs can prompt paranoid, murderous urges, but at the end of the day, is that really such a bad thing for society?

Author: David Jenkins

Time Out London Issue 2118: 24 - 30 March, 2011

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User reviews of this film

ZodKneelsFirst said...

Posted on Aug 20 2011 14:53 Decent acting. Dumb script with plot holes you could drive a bus through, and an unearned ending that was obviously tacked on because test audiences in Iowa hated the whole thing. You only have to watch two mintes of one of the DVD extras to know that neither the director nor writer know the meaning of the word satire.
Idiotic.

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chris jackson said...

Posted on May 23 2011 14:41 quite fun

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Scrumpyjack said...

Posted on Apr 13 2011 23:07 decent night out. no more, no less

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Justin Berkovi said...

Posted on Apr 12 2011 23:55 Don't over analyse what is a rollercoaster fun film. Brilliant!

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martha said...

Posted on Apr 12 2011 20:34 Really enjoyed this film. I took it at face value (i.e. - as enjoyable and entertaining..and far fetched) and would give it full marks for being exciting, fast paced and good story line.

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blib said...

Posted on Apr 08 2011 13:38 With you Marcia..enjoying it but felt somewhat deflated with it's flat conclusion. Lost it's way in the middle for me when it went all "Matrixy" in central park ice rink. Why Anna Friel? Grossly underused. What a waste. 2 out of 10.

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john said...

Posted on Apr 07 2011 09:24 walked out after 40 mins, lot of rubish , tried to understand but failed , i think a lot did'nt , was murmerings from the audience, who on earth thinks of these crasy, and not a bit funny plots, i suppose the answer is morons,we go every week and can take in most , but not this,, is there a 0 stars

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cheekycat said...

Posted on Apr 04 2011 20:44 Limitless left me with lots of questions. If i took NZT what would I use that power to do. I think we can all be niave and say save people, cure disease etc but I think we may if honest be like Eddie and want to impresss people, show off and maybe make some poor decsions. The lure of money sex and admirations would prove difficult to turn down.
I thought the effects used to demonstarte how Eddie brain felt whilst taking NZT were brilliant.
There are some flaws but overall I enjoyed the movie and came out thinking about how we as humans use the 20% of brain we have in the wrong way at times so imagine if we had access to more?

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critique said...

Posted on Apr 02 2011 16:32 Quirky, fast-paced drama which never takes its self too seriously. As some others have pointed out, the script doesn`t always stand up to scrutiny; nevertheless this is above average entertainment.

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Charles Wayman said...

Posted on Apr 02 2011 10:14 As someone with a notoriously short attention span, I really enjoyed this film, although I'm not sure if it merits the somewhat clumsy attempts at in-depth analysis. What happened to the book? It got forgotten, and I think that's the point. Maybe it's a comment by the writer on the consumerisation of the university system? Ooops, now I'm at it... Enjoy the film, but try not to take it so seriously :)

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craigganmore said...

Posted on Mar 31 2011 22:17 Great film! I left the cinema feeling like I can change the world - it's popcorn, but it's a hell of a lot brighter and inspiring than most. I thought it had a touch of Fight Club about it and, although it's not quite as that it is just as enjoyable. Loved it.

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Tom said...

Posted on Mar 30 2011 22:51 Richard: Not sure I agree with you. I think there are large holes in the storylines in this film. The Eddie Morra character wasn't a modest man. He had no problem in showing the world just how brilliant he was. Given he also had political aspirations - hence why at the end of the film he plans to run for senator - it's odd that the book he originally struggles with is no longer flaunted/publicised to increase the public's knowledge of him, and other books not published to prove just why he should be senator and not another person. On the whole it’s a pretty flawed story - it doesn't live up to the trailer. That whole loan shark storyline was probably the worst: Firstly, where would a desperate loan shark get $100k from?; secondly why would that loan shark lend the $100k to Morra whom he barely knew, when Morra had no job, no apartment of his own, and was generally completely down on his luck. Likewise, when Morra strikes lucky, how come with this “super intelligence” he didn’t think to pay off the loan shark with the $2m he came into from share dealing knowing there’d otherwise be ramifications. Nah, this film doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

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Richard said...

Posted on Mar 30 2011 10:30 Marcia says: What happened to the book?
The book becomes superfluous when he realizes just how much he can do with his new super intelligence.
It is a popcorn movie but very entertaining.

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Phil Ince said...

Posted on Mar 29 2011 22:20 Enjoyable but it's a little too long and the material with the on-off girlfriend story gets repetitious. The premise is that a pill makes the Cooper character super-intelligent but the story itself depends on him retaining crutial quantities of blindness and stupidity. Quite good quality crap.

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Marcia said...

Posted on Mar 28 2011 16:47 I’d be very wary of calling this anything other than a 2 star movie. Though the performances aren’t bad, the story’s patchy (what happened to “the book”?; what happened to his money when the book took off so well?; why no further sign of the book agent who would surely be pressing for further literary masterpieces?; why keep his stash all in one place given the impact should it go missing?; how did the thugs break into a watertight/high security apartment in under 2 minutes with such crude tools?; as others say below, why such as abrupt ending?; etc; etc.). Not bad, but in no way taxing – the story assumes you don’t like to tax your brain cells with unrealistic detail. Lightweight. Very much a popcorn movie. Newspapers have given this a 3 star review - that’s bit generous.

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