Limitless

Limitless (Neil Burger, 2011)

Based on the novel The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn, Limitless is the story Eddie Mora (Bradley Cooper) a writer who has troubles writing a novel, loses his girlfriend (Abbie Cornish) and slowly falls into alcoholism. One day he meets his ex-brother in-law and discovers a drug that gives him the power to use more than 20% of his brain. Well, it’s like as if he can use it all. With this jump star the becomes limitless in the possibilities of his life.

With kind of real life superhero powers, Eddie is an almost invincible hero of the story and as long as the movie advances the story doesn’t follow really well the incredible plot holes and the superpowers evolve in ridiculous events. Far from being very inventive the plot has a nice first act and slowly gets worse and worse when it comes to its end. The relationship with his girlfriend is more a prop than actually used as a propulsion for the dramatic arch that the film needed. There’s also too many plot elements that involve the Russian gangster, the business tycoon, and other second hand characters.

Neil Burger’s directing takes a step back when his The Illusionist was interesting and was more of a ode to the old masters/magicians of Films. His gimmick inserts and drug visions reminded me how I hated the drug trip in Killing Them Softly and how Easy Rider takes a bad turn with the cemetery experimental sequence. If it was not for the sequences aforementioned the whole would be average as a film and even if it’s a middle of the road movie there won’t be too much faults. At some level, I think that Burger can be a talented mainstream filmmaker that could elevate his work and distinguish himself from the generic directing of today’s standards.

Limitless is an average entertaining movie for what it is but one must passover the fact that the plot is filled with gaps and incongruities that weakens the story and its appreciation. For me it doesn’t standout very strongly and is far from being at the top of the 2011 releases.