On 3 October 2022, after having promised myself to do so for ages, I finally watched on DVD the suspenseful sci fi movie Limitless – and it was well worth the wait.
Directed by Neil Burger, based upon Alan Glynn's 2001-published novel The Dark Fields, and released in 2011 by Relativity Media, Limitless stars Bradley Cooper as failing NYC-based author Eddie Morra, who seems incapable of applying himself not only to writing his book but also to everything else, including his relationship with his girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish), so she dumps him.
Then Eddie's ex-wife Melissa's drug-dealer brother Vernon Gant (Johnny Whitworth) gives him a single pill of a new drug, dubbed NZT-48, which in a matter of minutes increases his cognitive capability to an incredible extent by enabling him to access 100% of his brain's abilities.
To cut a long story short – as in RIP Vernon! – Eddie surreptitiously acquires his late brother-in-law's sizeable stash of NZT-48 (not found by Vernon's killers when they searched his apartment), as well as an avid interest in the stock market. Very soon, as in days, Eddie becomes the hottest financial mover & shaker in town – and NYC is a big town!
So naturally it's not long before his unparalleled investment successes attract the keen attention of the finance world's Mr Big, a certain immensely wealthy, highly influential tycoon named Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro), who seeks to employ Eddie and profit from his extraordinary talents.
But thanks to some unpleasant and unexpected NZT-48 side-effects, not everything in Eddie's upward spiral is going to plan. Added to that is the inconvenience of being pursued by various ne'er-do-wells intent upon killing him (as they did Vernon) in order to nab this new narcotic for themselves, plus Eddie's subsequent disturbing discovery that everyone else who has been taking it for any length of time like himself is either falling seriously ill or dying – as harrowingly testified first-hand to him by none other than Melissa (Anna Friel).
All in all, quite a predicament to be in, with danger and death confronting him on every side – so just how exactly can Eddie possibly extricate himself from it? Might he actually be able to harness and subvert this ostensibly deadly drug's brain-enhancing effects to help him formulate a solution?
Limitless is gorgeously shot and, augmented by a veritable battery of cinematic special-effect techniques, lopes along at a fair old lick – as does Bradley Cooper as the ultra-fast-thinking but increasingly frenetic Eddie (Cooper, incidentally, replaced Shia LaBeouf in this role after LaBeouf badly injured his left hand in a car accident and had to drop out before filming began) – with enough twists and turns to keep what might otherwise have been a fairly predictable, even pedestrian plot both fresh and surprising, and the final twist is excellent.
Speaking of which: in among the DVD's extras is an alternate ending to this film, which I watched, and that too would have worked well, had it been used (though of the two, I prefer the one that was used).
In terms of its theme, Limitless is reminiscent of certain earlier movies that I've viewed down through the years, such as the two Lawnmower Man films (1992 and 1996), John Travolta's Phenomenon (1996), and Flowers For Algernon (2000), but it is also an entertaining and enjoyable sci fi thriller in its own right that I certainly recommend.
Limitless also inspired a 22-episode single-season CBS TV show of the same title, constituting a spin-off sequel to this film and first screened in 2015-2016. Eddie (again played by Cooper) appeared intermittently in it, but this time in only a subsidiary manner. Cooper also served as one of the show's ten executive producers.
If you'd like to experience for a mercifully brief minute or two what it's like to be trapped in Eddie's speeding but out-of-control NZT-48-fuelled fast-lane existence, please click here to view an official Limitless trailer on YouTube – and be thankful that you can take your foot off the throttle afterwards!
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