Winning formula

Limitless

Director: Neil Burger.
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish.

EVERYONE loves a movie that has the ability to make you laugh or cry, but films that challenge you to use your brain are hit or miss.

Sometimes, through no fault of the filmmakers, a movie is so clever that the intricacies of the plot often elude the vast majority of the audience. This results in people feeling either confused or highly irritated that they missed the point.

Some examples of this include Shutter Island and The Matrix 3 or, even jumping from the big to the small-screen, TV’s LOST.

Any way you slice it, some things just take a little more work to understand and Limitless is a prime example.
Eddie is a guy whose life is seemingly going nowhere fast. He looks like a tramp, lives in a disheveled apartment, his girlfriend is ready to leave him and despite having a lucrative book contract, he hasn’t written a word in months.

Writer’s block is a painfully frustrating inconvenience to anyone who makes a living from putting pen to paper. It feels like a debilitating illness that makes you so irate you want to scream. Eddie is at his wits end until he bumps into his sister’s ex-husband, Vernon.

The pair have not seen each other in years so they stop for a coffee and catch up. Eddie tells Vernon all about his bad luck and inability to get his creative juices flowing. As luck would have it, Vernon works for a pharmaceutical company that has developed a pill to rekindle creativity.

It sounds too good to be true but, after a little coercion, Eddie takes the pill and realises that his brain is now in overdrive. He begins to take steps to better himself, he starts small by cleaning his apartment then moves on to his unfinished book.

His life is finally turning around and thanks to his new found aptitude there is seemingly no end to what he can accomplish … learning a language, taking up piano etc. Eddie loves his new lot in life and everything seems perfect until … you guessed it, the drug wears off.

One of the best aspects of the film is that it features Robert De Niro and for once, he isn’t playing a disgruntled father-in-law! It’s so refreshing to see Bobby D getting back to the serious roles he does best.

 In this film he does a great job playing Carl, a business mogul who wants to use Eddie’s intellectual skills to help him with a huge corporate merger.

 So, with Eddie on the cusp of the biggest moment of his life, his sole objective becomes to procure more of the drug that he credits for his newfound success. Meanwhile, as if that weren’t stressful enough, he’s implicated in a murder and the Russian mafia is trying to kill him!  

Cooper’s performance is nothing short of fantastic and it just goes to show he is more than a one trick Hangover pony. He plays his part with depth, empathy and, of course, the charisma that he is known for.

Limitless is a brilliant thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end. It’s fast-paced, exciting and most importantly, it’s original.

One thing’s for sure, you will leave this movie mulling it over in great detail and, if you’re anything like me, wishing you had some of those magical concentration pills to help you!
l Showing in Cineco, Seef II and Saar Cineplex