It’s not often I long to see a blockbuster at the cinema. And it’s not often a Kanye West in a trailer song draws me in. But miracles happen!
Last night it was a duel between queuing up at the comedy festival to take a chance on an unknown act or seeing a film my friend hadn’t heard of. The film won. We saw Limitless.
The film stars two remarkably attractive leads – Bradley Cooper (Eddie Morra) and Australian Abbie Cornish who plays Eddie’s on again off again girlfriend.
Eddie, an unmotivated writer, recently single, and about to be homeless, bumps into his drug dealing ex brother in law, Vernon, who gives him a free drug.
The drug, NZT, unlocks Eddie’s potential, granting him super-cerebral powers. He is suddenly motivated to be a better man. He completes his manuscript in four days, becomes fluent in several languages and takes the stockmarket by storm.
Of course, one tablet is not enough. Eddie must have more. So he visits Vernon who is murdered when he sends Eddie out to get his dry cleaning and breakfast. While Eddie waits for the police, he searches Vernon’s apartment for more NZT tablets.
His new found potential means he is sought after by top investment firms. Robert Deniro plays Eddie’s mentor.
Acquiring the NZT, and taking out a loan from a standover man sees Eddie attract lots of bad people. He’s doing great financially, but people are after him. And he can’t sustain working his body and brain so hard. He sees the way NZT has destroyed other peoples’ lives. Once he has a taste of this new life, the limitless potential, he can’t stop. He can’t afford to stop.
There are a few really gross violent scenes in the film. My friend and I winced a number of times.
But overall it’s fast paced, intelligent, engrossing and thought provoking. Drugs mean power – artificial power in the body and mind, but also social power. Do people need artificial stimulants to motivate them or can they just achieve extraordinary things if they put their minds to it. And how much can the brain do before it affects how the body functions?
Bradley Cooper was mesmorising. Those blue eyes. And curly hair. Scruffy then suit. Sigh.
Bradley Cooper is ALWAYS made of win. I'll be sure to check this out. 🙂
I was expecting that it'll turn out that NZT was just sugar water. Oops.
Bradley Cooper used to be on this series in the States called Jack & Bobby. It was really good though it lasted only one season. You may want to look into it. It was about two brothers and growing up and life and family and life decisions. And if I'm not mistaken you can see Bradley Cooper in the buff (but it's serious drama series, honest!)
I saw this film a few weeks ago and my thoughts were very similar to yours. Thought provoking & intellient, Bradley Cooper (nice!), and the gross violence was a little over the top. Spoilt it for me.
I saw this a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it! It has a ton of energy and action and the filming is really interesting – like when he looks to the cieling in his apt and the tiles whip around like the stock board? So cool! And yes Bradley is very dreamy 🙂
Oh those eyes! I always play the "are they contacts or are they real" game.