Limitless Review

Why?

THE MOVIE: CRITIC'S TAKE

March is a good month for risky movies. In the past years movies like Panic room, Phone booth, 300, and a bunch of other odd movies has been released, making March an interesting movie month. It's like a preshow before the actual event. The preshows no one really cares about but usually is watched to get amped for the actually show and/or because the person is  slightly bored. Limitless is no exception here. It's not a boring movie but it's not all that fun either unless you know math, the body, and how quickly shit can hit the fan. The last one we know all to well but the first two you need to go to school for.

STORY

Eddie, played by Bradley Cooper, is a struggling writer trying to get his book contract up and running. He's facing money obstacles that a lot of writers go through. His girlfriend, played by Abbie Cornish, dumped him because he was a loser. She claimed to love him but sense he couldn't keep himself together she leaves him high and dry, looking like he wants to kill himself. Instead he bumps into his ex brother in law who use to be a drug dealer. Turns out he still is and wants to help his former bro in law get his act together. He feeds him one pill and within seconds he becomes the new Einstein. Not just any Einstein but an attractive, wife banging, girl stealing, and money making motherf**cker. You know every man's dream.

Nice modeling shot!

During this process he's able to win back his gold digging girlfriend and make his way to the top of the finance business. He attracts the attention of Carl Van Loon, played by Robert De Niro. He's impressed with Eddie's style but knows something is up. He begins testing him but Eddie learns he can't do this stuff without his pills. He tries desperately looking for any loose pills while becoming very ill. He is also dealing with a loan shark that accidentally took a pill and became addicted to it. He also finds himself stalked by a mystery man who is hell bent on getting those pills, even if he has to kill everyone he knows. Those pills turned out to be worse than that Lord of the Rings' ring. They were truly precious.

E pill?

Eventually he gets another stash and gets back on track. He smartens up and hires new pharmacists to make him his own permanent stash. He also starts working for Carl and starts to merge with another finance company. He learns that the CEO is also on the very same pills and that he is the one behind his stalking. The CEO has the pills stolen from Eddie when he wasn't looking. This was a very bad time because The loan shark was able to find him and almost put Eddie's life to an end. Luckily Eddie was able to get a fresh batch, in a very disturbing way that will make your stomach turn, to save his life. With his own line of pills he was able to smarten all the way up to run for the senate but it looked like Carl was one step ahead. Carl wanted to give him a deal that he couldn't refuse but Eddie proved that he was still one step ahead. He was able to make the pill Limitless! Needless to say Carl was not very happy.

He lives?

ACTING

The acting here was blah. I couldn't feel for any of the characters including Bradley's. He felt a little off and didn't seem to fit the role. His chemistry with people was not limitless and it seemed the people that kept the movie together was Robert De Niro and the loan shark, played by Andrew Howard. These two were the best part of the movie and were able to keep me interested. The others didn't do so well. A movie needs chemistry to succeed and this lacks a lot of it.

Stupid!

SPECIAL EFFECTS

If you want to call looking through a crystal ball a special effect then this movie kicks ass. I didn't like much of the film's cinematography and the lighting was dull. Nothing real special happens in this department but this movie wasn't made to blow your eyes away. Now that I think about it why was this movie made? Anyone know?

WRITING AND DIRECTING

The movie was written by Leslie Dixon and directored by Neil Burger. The writing was ok when it came to dialog but there are too many plot holes that can't be ignored. Like why didn't Eddie payback the money when he had it all along? Why would anyone want back a gold digging female? How come no one else ever thought about making the pill stick like Eddie did? Too many plot holes for a movie like this.

I got my gold digger back

The directing was ok. Nothing really special. Neil seems like an average director that did a good enough job. Everything seems to be in focus and the camera work isn't a distraction. At least he knows he did a fine job. The others should be ashamed.

THE END

If you want to waste your money on it then go ahead and see it. If not wait for video or download. It's the type of movie you can enjoy seeing once at home from Netflix. Paying for ownership would be silly. No one will care about this movie less than 6 months from now. Hell, maybe even 5 mins. I know I will.



STORY 5 out of 10
ACTING 3 out of 10
SPECIAL EFFECTS 4 out of 10
WRITING 4 out of 10
DIRECTING 6 out of 10

OVERALL SCORE 4 (WAIT TILL VIDEO)