Film Review - Limitless

One afternoon while browsing movie trailers, I came upon Limitless and thought to myself: "Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro? I wonder what this could be?" I checked out the trailer and it captured my attention immediately. It didn’t give too much away, so I was pleasantly anxious as I took my seat at the screening.

The film was intense, beautifully edited and all in all a job well done. Bradley Cooper stars as frumpy and grumpy work from home writer Eddie Morra. Cooper’s charming voice narrates parts of the film to help the audience ease into his crazy journey. He is down in the dumps and uninspired, freshly depressed. All of a sudden he bumps into an old acquaintance on the street. One simple conversation later, Eddie now has a free sample of this mysterious new drug that helps the user use 100% of their brain. His intelligence soars to four digits, he gains a need to be more adventurous, and both his physique and confidence peak to their highest degree.

Eddie encounters the many stages of addiction and we see the consequences as they unravel before his eyes. He develops many new relationships with very different people: drug dealers, huge dangerous thugs, concerned girlfriends, mysteriously murdered lovers, powerful and crazy CEOs, etc. We are brought into their world and the world revolving around this incredible life-changing drug. When presented with the drug for the first time we hear Eddie’s voice-over say: “What would you do?” He's right, we'd be curious.

The plot has many twists and turns that left me pleased and satisfied. Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish, Andrew Howard, Johnny Whitworth and Tomas Arana all come together to show us a drug-induced world that is almost like a fantasy. Exaggerated zooms and intense close-ups keep us on the edge of our seats and show some creativity that I have been searching for in Hollywood lately. When the characters take the drug, the screen takes on a subtle glow, which makes things sharper and brighter, particularly Cooper’s baby blues; they're quite intense, mesmerizing and, gosh, sparkling like none other!

The writer, Leslie Dixon (Pay It Forward, The Heartbreak Kid, Mrs. Doubtfire) adapted Alan Glynn’s novel The Dark Fields and made it her own. I will read the novel and see the film a couple more times to really get the full experience. I found myself wondering what cool super human abilities I could get away with if I was on this top-secret drug, and you will too. This film is for everyone; it's definitely an underdog that will rise to the top of the usually mediocre Hollywood Box Office. Go have some fun, kids!

Four out of Five stars

-Andrea Boulet