Limitless Review

Limitless is a movie that lays its douche bag nature out bare, and whether you like it or not, this particular douche bag is going to have everything go right for him, your going to hope and pray that he get whats coming but that just not how Limitless rolls. Limitless revels in its douche baggery and shoves  it down your throat, what results is a movie with style to spare but no substance. Limitless has a fairly simple premise, its entire conceit revolves around the well known idea that we has human beings can only access 20% of our entire brain. Limitless asks, "what if you could take a pill that could let you access the entire 100%".

Bradley Copper has made a career as a smarmy yet charming prick, and its paid off pretty well. But Limitless takes him to the utter extremes of his inner high school jock, as he ushers in a performance that can only be described as accurate. As he displays such cockiness and self righteousness that forces you to dig into the deepest darkest places of your soul, to come up with the patience to put up with him. In the end that's the point, as the movie starts his character Eddie Morra, is a struggling writer who looks like he should be living off the streets, when a old friend offers him a new FDA "approved" drug, he takes it thinking his life couldn't get any worse. Now you must be thinking, well of course its gets worse, he gets in over his head, then struggles to get off the drug, and in the end learns the error of his ways. Let me stop right there, cause this is where Limitless gets interesting, instead of being a cool sci-fi concept wrapped around a stupid morality tale, Limitless just says FUCK IT. If your a prick, take drugs, sleep around, haplessly murder and lie to make your way to the top, then you'll have the world eating out of your hand. Yep you read that right, Limitless has no moral consequences to being a drug addicted, womanizing, douche bag. I guess that's an interesting and very original approach to an otherwise completely predictable plot.

Limitless best qualities comes from its really stylized look. Whenever somebody take the drug, all the colors pop, the movie just instantly becomes incredibly colorful and vibrant, there is some cool camera effects as well that go along with the drug use. There are even some cool sequences depicting the actions the character is doing in crazy fashion as if to say look, by tripping balls you can do all these amazing things, and it'll look absolutely stunning. I actually really enjoyed all the cool effects and visuals the movie uses to indicate where Eddie is with the drug, if he is inspired by it, is craving it or what it must look like to deduce the amount of information that he does while on the drug. Of course the drug becomes pretty addictive once you try it, and one of the many obstacles in Eddie's way is a Russian thug who keeps demanding more. The resulting fight between Eddie and this Russian gangster and his thugs is fairly thrilling, but like so many parts of this movie, it just just never really achieves full potential.

You Talking to me ?

Robert De Niro must have had the day off, because he is in the movie, with not much of a role, but as the only other known name in the entire movie he is all over the promotion for this thing. He is relatively fine, but he isn't given much to do, but be vaguely intimidating and the revelation about his characters can be guessed the first time he appears on screen -- well after he finishes grimacing like he does--. Every character and even every plot turn, can be seen a mile away, it take away the enjoyment, when you can predict every outcome to every action that anyone makes, the movie becomes incredibly predictable. I will reiterate once more, the only thing inventive is the fact that the preternatural douche bag doesn't learn his lesson or become a better person, he continues being a cunt, and goes to to make, millions of dollars, keep the girl, and be pretty much invincible, its kinda cool in but also makes everything weightless or meaningless.

Limitless is an odd movie, its stylish but lakes substance. It has a charming lead in Bradley Copper but he is playing a royal douche bag. The drug is a neat concept but it never amounts to anything. Limitless is a the very definition of a decent movie it just never really reaching its potential, its a decent rental and that's about it.

(2 out of 5)