Ohne Limit

A pill can make you smart is indeed an interesting concept but what is more interesting is the directing. It's not an ordinary thriller movie. The director gave a lot of style in this movie to make it more exciting. It definitely works and the movie is limitlessly entertaining. There are some plot holes that the filmmakers doesn't intend to fix it but still it's worth watching.

The movie is of course about an intellectual pill. It's intriguing to know what's the side effects of it. Well, it's quite fun to know what's going to happened to the protagonist but the movie's smartness isn't very limitless. There are massive plot holes in here. There are also some confusion in this.

If there is something limitless in here then it's the entertainment quality. Neil Burger gave a lot of style and ridiculousness in this film. The editing was quite fast and fun. The zooming in through places is amazing. The soundtrack and the music score does perfectly fit in every scene. The performances were good. Bradley Cooper is an entertaining actor but he had some weaknesses in serious scenes like crying or being scared. Robert De Niro only shows up in times but you know him, he is just being himself and there is nothing wrong with that.

Overall the movie is ridiculously fun. The movie is no cliché, it's all unique by so many reasons including the trippy, vertigo, and zooming in style. It's intriguing, it's fast, and it's smart at times. "Limitless" is another movie that has merits that ignore the flaws. It's just a non-stop entertaining solid flick.

I have to say that this movie panders to my particular taste, which is to say it has a well crafted story for our times, good acting and just the right blend of New York atmosphere mixed with a sci-fi feel. The other main issue is drugs. I personally have partook in the search for an intelligence enhancing substance and it was quite believable to watch Bradley Cooper transform from a bohemian-slob to a brainiac-overacheiver. The characters were well written and thought-out. The situations were too close to home for me to ignore. The character driven story was exemplary to any current sci-fi films.

The tension was akin to any good crime drama but the plot kept it teasingly interesting. Why didn't I hear of this book? Anyways, Eddie(Bradley Cooper) is trying to meet a deadline after breaking it off with the love of his life(Abbie Cornish),and is on a downward spiral. He runs into an ex-brother-in-law who appears to be a druggie, but is actually involved in designer drug production, and is ensnared in a plot that leads him from the Russian Mafia to Wall Street. The science behind this movie is very believable and I applaud the producers for being brave enough to bringing it to the screen

You're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, or at least that's what authors tell us. Well motion picture directors would want you to not judge their films by the trailers or posters. Limitless is one of the few recent films to deny the misconceptions from its efficient marketing.

It's sold as Bradley Cooper gets smart drug fix from Robert De Niro then must defeat him through a series of cat and mouse games. In actuality Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is a struggling writer/slob who acquires a drug called NZT-48, a pill that allows him to recall everything from the briefest of encounters. In minutes he is transformed from a guy no one could believe has a book deal to a man no one can do without. Doors open, too many doors really. Eddie's problem solving solutions end up fanning the flames of questions around him, and before long it seems that everyone in the city is after him. The intricate dynamics that weave this trail of lies is the best since Match Point (2005).

Cooper's performance totally shocked me. He's able to go from panicked addict to conversationalist genius and back without losing the support of the audience. With no key player for Eddie to confide in or take along for the journey, the supporting performances are little more than plot points. Abbie Cornish and Robert De Niro don't have nearly as much range to showcase in this screenplay. However with a little change, Anna Friel's one scene could have been expanded into something with more drama and likely give Limitless the emotional impact needed for some to take it seriously.

Enough cannot be said for how amazingly brisk and refreshing the production comes across. Nearly every scene has at least some artistic appeal. This is one of the more attractive films I've seen using the Red digital cameras and I have to give the colorist some praise for the warm palette used to show the influence of NZT-48. Thanks to the mind-altering plot, Limitless is one of the few movies where extravagant transitions make sense.

Limitless is indicative of a minor subgenre that sprang up around the dawn of the current millennium; I call this the genre of self-discovery. Examples of these films include Fight Club and The Beach and more examples can be found in Asian cinema (where I also believe Limitless drew inspiration for art direction). The primary goal of these metaphysical pictures is to delve into what makes us tick. Limitless asks the viewer to exam what's holding each of us back from being the perfect versions of ourselves, and by stories end this viewer certainly felt inspired.

I can see room to complain when it comes to the way Limitless approaches relationships. Remember, I'm seeing this as a specialty film about inner exploration and as such I'm allowing for some leeway in how director Neil Burger is able to keep the pace going while focusing almost exclusively on Eddie. Still, I would have appreciated one scene showing how his limitless knowledge afforded him relationship-handling tact.

Limitless has such a breathtaking pace that you aren't going to find the time needed to nitpick. Some of the action at movie's end is resolved with little plausibility, but it's too much fun to attack. At least the title of Limitless offers some truth in advertising.

I feel it needs to be said that this is a superhero movie. We've had a myriad of superhero movies in recent years, but only a handful (e.g. the first Iron Man) were films where it seemed to me cast and crew were not fast asleep but actually cared about what they were doing. This is definitely an example of that rare breed. It is one of those movies where you spend the entire length of the film NOT noticing that it is a superhero movie, and quite possibly this will not dawn on you even on the ride home, because the subject matter is handled seriously: the characters are 3d life-like people; the plot has life-like complexity; there is ambiguity and room for interpretation. Somebody cared. I had my doubts, going in, whether Bradley Cooper can pull this one off. He sure can. Other actors are also at the top of their game. (I don't feel I need to pick out De Niro in particular, here.)

So, the good: Original, creative writing. Original, creative, beautiful cinematography. Original, creative direction. Interesting throughout. Believable, except when it isn't trying to be. Good pacing. Well acted.

The bad: Some scenes stretch credulity. Most by just a little. The fore-last scene is over the top. I loved it. (My wife said: "They're trying to pull a Tarrantino. Right?" and they were.) I can't blame anyone who says this scene ruined the movie for him. It isn't believable. It isn't consistent with the rest. But it's definitely where the roller-coaster that is this movie is at its most extreme. By contrast, the last scene left me with a feeling of something missed. It's like the script saves the best for the sequel.

So, unfortunately, this movie doesn't have an ending that makes you forgive it for everything else. Quite on the contrary. It just happens to be so good that I was willing to forgive it its bad ending.

If you've ever found yourself staring into nothingness, wondering why you couldn't muster even a hair of energy to get up and do something, then you're going to find this movie highly satisfying. Limitless takes you on a ride... and that's not an exaggeration. The computer graphics create a glimpse into what it would actually feel like to be a "super-you." The writers also did a great job of creating a character that from the start... pretty much charms your pants off. Bradley Cooper actually surprised me. I never thought he was a bad actor, but he was able to honestly portray a guy that had absolutely nothing going for him and became a "somebody." The movie graphics, plot, and main actors (well, DeNiro, Cooper, and Johnny Whitworth) were all intriguing. It's not just a movie about what crazy things some drug can make you do... it creates a discussion within each of us, "What if you could unlock all the potential of YOUR mind, who would you be?" Now the downsides... some of the supporting actors were very weak. Also, there were some scenarios that went off the deep end but actually had the audience laughing hysterically so it wasn't exactly a bad thing. If you thought you'd get a deep or scientific explanation for the drug... don't hold your breath. Thankfully the plot was engaging enough that you didn't really care. The movie had some interesting ideas but some that I especially loved were the ones about identity, and about taking something to make yourself better and whether that meant you were actually you or an altered you. Does it matter even? One last thing I gotta say though, the one guy, Johnny Whitworth, did a really great job. I hope he gets some major roles in the future because I think he's very talented.

I'd definitely recommend watching this movie. If only just for the ridiculous scene with the skates. Hilarious.