Limitless: Review

Once upon a time there was a film called Inception.  This film is very popular lot of people went to see it.  The nice people in Hollywood decided that if they went to see Inception they would go and see their film too.  And so The Adjustment Bureau was born.  This was like Inception, but had a bit of romance of thrown in.  If now we have Limitless, which is like Inception meets Wall Street.

Bradley Cooper plays Eddie, a down on his luck writer, who has written a word in years even though he has an advance for book.  Unsure when he would ever get out of the rut, Eddie bumps into his ex brother in law, a drug dealer.  He persuades Eddie take a clear pill, telling him that the pill will unlock all kinds of potential in his head.  Eddie soon discovers that the pill has given him the power to not only finished writing his book that a whole host of other possibilities.  Craving for more, Eddie goes back to see his ex brother in law only to find him dead.  Discovering his stash of pills, Eddie soon finds he can control the stock market and gets the interest of businessmen Carl Van Loon while at the same time finds his world is being turned upside down.

Neil Burger’s thriller is visually very exciting.  He uses plenty of effects to capture the world in which Eddie has become accustomed to.  Plenty of zoom shots, use of light and colour and playing around with perspective for works really well.  The problem with the film is it’s far too complicated, with too much techno-babble involving the stock market.  The audience I saw the film with seemed to get a little restless.

The ending leaves a lot to be desired.  There are plenty of twists and turns throughout the movie but when it comes to the final denouement it doesn’t really go anywhere and so we’re left leaving the cinema feeling a little short changed.  It did deserved a far more demanding ending.

Bradley Cooper, given the opportunity to carry a film does have a good job.  He’s likeable enough even if on occasions he does come across as a little bit too smarmy.  But wouldn’t you be if you were the King of the world.  I can see great things for of Mr. Cooper and his ability to jump from comedy to drama proves he is more than capable to be a leading male.  Abbie Cornish, who plays Eddie’s girlfriend, isn’t really given enough to do while it is nice to see Robert De Niro back to underplaying his part.  This time he isn’t an embarrassment.

If we’re going to get a series of Inception rip offs, I hope that they’re going to have the good sense of having an intelligent, yet easy to understand script that doesn’t just end with nowhere else to go.  This could have been a four star movie if it hadn’t been for the ending. This film definitely had it's limits.