limitless movie review essay

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I know how Eddie Morra feels. Like him, I know almost everything, but have forgotten most of it. We are told time and again that we use only a small portion of our brains and have enough left over to run nations in our down time. “Limitless” is about Eddie’s adventures after his ex-brother-in-law gives him a pill that suddenly puts his entire brain online.

He finishes his novel at typing speed. He wins at poker, invests in the market, and runs it up to millions. He fascinates a woman who had rejected him as a loser. He knows intuitively how to handle situations that used to baffle him. He is hailed as the Wall Street guru of the age.

Eddie is played by Bradley Cooper as a schlep who becomes a king. This sort of mental rags-to-riches progression has inspired a lot of movies; ever see Cliff Robertson in “ Charly ” (1968)? The difference here is that Eddie Mora remains himself before and after, and all that changes is his ability to recall everything he ever saw or heard. “Limitless” assumes that would be a benefit and make him rich, but what if most of what he ever saw or heard about Wall Street was wrong (as it usually is)?

The movie sidesteps the problem that what we need is more intelligence and a better ability to reason, not a better memory. For memory, modern man has Google. There’s no need to stumble over such technicalities, however; given its premise “Limitless” is passably entertaining. Abbie Cornish plays Lindy, the successful young professional woman who dumps Eddie as a loser and falls for him all over again when he becomes a winner. This is not sneaky on her part; there is every reason to dump the original Eddie and many good ones to return.

Eddie grows entangled in three problems. One has to do with the source of the magic pills; the brother-in-law is no longer in a position to reveal it. The second has to do with a mob loan shark who liked being smart and wants to get that way again.

The third involves Carl Van Loon, played by Robert De Niro as one of the richest men in America. He hires Eddie as an investment magician, Eddie loses his touch when he runs out of pills, he regains it, and so on. De Niro is not well used in the role, because he plays Van Loon straight and in one dimension. Don’t you suppose he could have been supplied with a quirk of his own? The twist at the end comes too late.

Bradley Cooper fits well into the two versions of Eddie Morra, and director Neil Burger does inventive visual effects in showing how time telescopes for Eddie and the answers to problems seem to materialize before his eyes. A subplot about a murder, however, raises questions it doesn’t answer, and all the quasi-criminal stuff seems a little perfunctory. The movie is not terrifically good, but the premise is intriguing; it doesn’t really set out to explore what such a pill might really to do a person. “Limitless” only uses 15, maybe 20 percent of its brain. Still, that’s more than a lot of movies do.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Limitless (2011)

Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving a drug, violence including disturbing images, sexuality and language

105 minutes

Andrew Howard as Gennady

Anna Friel as Melissa

Robert De Niro as Carl Van Loon

Bradley Cooper as Eddie Morra

Abbie Cornish as Lindy

• Leslie Dixon

Based on a novel by

Directed by.

• Neil Burger

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Review by Brian Eggert March 8, 2011

Limitless is about a loser who takes a pill that gives him access to 100 percent of his brain, but ironically enough, the movie uses only a small percentage of that idea’s potential. Scientists have proposed that our brain might be capable of telepathy or telekinesis if we used more than the 10 or 20 percent that we’re capable of using at any one time. But here’s a movie that suggests the extent of human brainpower resides in political convictions, crunching numbers to manipulate the stock market, and having the motivation to be better looking. Even with such a narrow viewpoint, it’s an involving, fast-paced yarn with some interesting visual flourishes that almost keep the viewer from dwelling on the mediocre narrative.

Bradley Cooper plays Eddie Morra, a wannabe writer whose girlfriend (Abbie Cornish) breaks up with him for his lack of motivation. While wallowing in self-pity, he bumps into his ex-brother-in-law (Johnny Whitworth), who offers Eddie a supposedly FDA-approved pill said to unlock all of his brain’s potential. After taking it, Eddie has total recall of his memories, desires knowledge, and finds creative inspiration. He finishes his unfinished book in four days, learns new languages, devises complex algorithms to manipulate the stock market and get rich, and his girlfriend wants him again. Yet, to maintain his heightened state, he has to keep taking the pills, but it turns out the drug isn’t as “safe” or as official as he was told, and the story reverts to a familiar addict tale. When he’s off the drug for any amount of time, his body shuts down from fatal withdrawal symptoms, which sends Eddie searching for his next fix.

When Eddie takes the pill, director Neil Burger (2006’s The Illusionist ) uses some clever camera tricks to convey the sensation. A dizzying—yet rather brilliant—CGI-enhanced perpetual zoom illustrates Eddie’s inspired motivation to keep moving forward, whereas fisheye lenses and a suddenly brighter color palette show his boosted perspective. Kinetic editing helps bring together how Eddie channels long-since-forgotten moments from his distant past. And Burger’s creative use of cockeyed, Dutch, and upside-down angles keeps the visual presentation exciting. Indeed, viewers watching from a purely technical perspective may feel more rewarded than anyone watching for the story.

The movie falls into humdrum territory after establishing the vast powers of the drug, when it branches off into a number of directions, none of which take shape in a satisfying way. There’s a subplot involving a murder that Eddie may or may not have committed (we never find out either way). A mob loan shark hunts Eddie for borrowed money at first, then for some pills of his own. Then there’s all sorts of talk about a boring merger that Eddie has helped broker, with Robert De Niro’s hardnosed businessman Carl Van Loon posing a potential threat that dissolves before it has a chance to materialize. And through it all, Eddie constantly worries about his limited supply of pills and where he’ll get a permanent stash.

Besides Cooper, the cast is underused, and none of the characters seem as tangible as our narrator Eddie. Cooper does a fine job in his first major leading role since The Midnight Meat Train , proving he’s better than the supporting roles he’s usually assigned. It’s nice to see De Niro playing an intimidating figure again, though his character has little to do except give one good speech about the benefit of experience over supreme knowledge. And Cornish’s role reaches its zenith during an awkward chase where she uses a little girl’s ice skates to defend herself against an attacker. But the problem with the movie has more to do with structure and lazy storytelling than acting. On the whole, the narrative is about little else than one man’s rise, and his ongoing search for drugs to perpetuate it.

The obvious question is a familiar one: Why, when you have only three wishes, wouldn’t you just wish for more wishes? There’s no genie rule here that says Eddie can’t quickly learn advanced pharmaceutical chemistry and easily devise a longer-lasting, side-effect-free version of the drug. Instead, his quoted four-digit IQ doesn’t think that far ahead and focuses its attention on running for senate. When his potential knowledge is unprecedented, shouldn’t Eddie be developing some kind of unlimited fuel source to replace fossil fuels, or solving world hunger rather than getting into politics? Hasn’t our broken system proved a politician, even one with good intentions, can’t get anything done? Unfortunately, the scope of the source novel The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn doesn’t have a limitless imagination when it comes to the concept, and the adaptation’s screenwriter Leslie Dixon (the excellent remake of The Thomas Crown Affair ) doesn’t improve matters.

Limitless is frustrating because there are plenty of compelling ideas at work here, but they’re dumbed down by a screenplay that isn’t capable of being as intelligent as its central character. The plot holes are distractingly large, and some off-key moments (such as a scene where Eddie drinks blood) are enough to incite intermittent laughter in the audience. Complete with an opening that begins at the end, a silly climax, and an epilogue that’s nothing short of underwhelming, the story feels like rubbish next to the impressive direction and flashy visual displays. And though it may be a disappointment and an unfortunate waste of Burger’s evident talent, the movie is certainly worth a casual viewing for those interested.

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Movie review: ‘Limitless’

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Very early on in “Limitless,” a psychological tease about a pharmaceutically enhanced brainiac, star Bradley Cooper is teetering on the thin rail of a high-rise balcony contemplating one of those jumps that guarantees the sweet hereafter.

It turns out to be as good a metaphor for Cooper as it is for his character, Eddie Morra; both are courting considerable risks in director Neil Burger’s wannabe thriller about a super-pill that will make anyone who takes it super smart.

For Cooper, the question was: Could he play smart-Eddie? He comes close enough to suggest there is something more to the actor than just smirking arrogant handsome guy, which until now has been the definition of most of his characters, notably his breakout role in “The Hangover.” For Eddie, it’s more a management issue — can he handle the high-octane, mind-over-matter life he’s suddenly got?

But smart isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and soon the movie is unraveling faster than all of Eddie’s grand schemes. The pill may be new, but the lessons are old — all drugs have side effects and all the smarts in the world don’t keep you from making dumb decisions. The latter, perhaps something the filmmakers should have paid more mind to.

Burger, who crafted 2006’s likable period drama, “The Illusionist,” with Ed Norton as a magician, has got a lot more illusions to create here in trying to bring novelist Alan Glynn’s “The Dark Fields” to the big screen. Leslie Dixon’s screenplay has streamlined the book, merged some characters and complications, and given it a Hollywood ending that dispenses with most of the morality clauses that the novelist used to counterbalance the aphrodisiac of brilliance.

Abbie Cornish is his on-and-off girlfriend. Robert De Niro is a corporate merger heavy who wants a piece of smart-Eddie, and then wants a piece of the smart-pill action. They are there essentially to play angel versus devil on Eddie’s shoulder while he contemplates the power and the possibilities of always being the smartest guy in the room.

But the fundamental difficulty is that so much of Glynn’s story lives in Eddie’s mind. What does smart look like? How does it feel? Glynn uses up a lot of words answering that.

It’s not as easy to do with a camera lens, though director of photography Jo Willems tries to keep it interesting and intense and have a little fun with it too. Sometimes Eddie finds himself walking through a thunderstorm of letters raining down around him, or watching as the ceiling tiles spin like a slot machine, with numbers everywhere. And sometimes Eddie’s brain is working so fast that he gets ahead of himself — literally — with both of us (audience and Eddie) able to see multiple Eddies, trailing neon streaks of energy like a comet, as he pushes the boundaries of this brave new world made possible by the super-drug, named NZT if you care and not, I repeat not, FDA approved.

In addition to giving smart a shape and form, there’s a story to tell and too much is done via a voice-over narration by Cooper. At first Eddie is a disheveled and failing writer; so a writer. A shady old friend he hasn’t seen in years slips him a tab of help, a little piece of temptation that will unleash the 90% of his brain he hasn’t been using (it’s the scientific average, with humanity typically turning on only about 10% of our intellectual wattage, or so we’re told).

After Eddie takes an NZT tab, he writes a novel in one night. A few more pills and he’s speaking a couple of foreign languages, day-trading, then brokering mega-mergers, which is where De Niro’s mogul, a guy named Van Loon, comes in. Also the shady friend (I think the technical term is “dealer”) is dead, there is a skin-peeling loan shark with an Eastern European accent after him, and Eddie’s stash of pills is shrinking.

The disappointment is that for all of the possibilities, “Limitless” never gets beyond “limited.” De Niro is playing Van Loon at the intersection of the “Meet the Fockers’” ex-CIA conspiracy-fueled father-in-law and his overbearing, self-righteous, daddy dearest of “This Boy’s Life.” Cornish is just playing pretty, but in that accessory way that ensures her Lindy has more warmth than depth. Best of the bunch by far is veteran British stage actor Andrew Howard, making an excellent skin-peeling villain and an equally excellent case for why bad guys should never be given smart pills.

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Take one outrageous premise and write a fascinating plot around it and populate it with fine actors and a good director and you have one heck of a fine cinematic piece of work. The cinematography is highly imaginative with mind-bending speedy zoom-ins from time to time. The protagonist is one whom you might pity, then like and then have mixed feelings about. I highly recommend this one.

30 March 2011 10:47AM

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• Limitless Summary

by Neil Burger

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

Written by people who wish to remain anonymous

The movie revolves around the life of Eddie Morra , a struggling author in NYC. He is deemed lazy and unoriginal by his girlfriend, Lindy , who breaks up with him. Later, Eddie’s ex brother-in-law, Vernon, gives him a drug, NZT-48, to help with writing his book. The drug has wondrous effects and makes him highly intelligent and receptive to his surroundings. Eddie soon becomes addicted to the drugs and begins to ingest it daily. With his new motivation, Eddie begins to raise capital by investing in stocks. He borrows $100,000 from loan shark, Gennady. However, during this time, Eddie begins to experience time lapses in his memory. Eddie begins to realize those on the drug are ending up dead. Gennady tries to make Eddie pay back his ash with interest, but instead ends up taking the drug. He too becomes addicted and tells Eddie to supply him with more. Eddie hires bodyguards to protect him from Gennady , and in the meantime tries to work out the correct dosage he can take to maintain the benefits but not experience the side effects. Gennady manages to kill Eddie’s bodyguards and sends him their severed hands. Gennady then pursues Eddie to his apartment and brags that injecting the drug into the bloodstream is a more effective way of reducing the side effects. Eddie manages to kill Gennady and drinks his blood to give him the abilities to kill off the rest of the henchmen. One year later, Eddie is a successful author and is running for senate. It is speculated he will become President one day. Eddie also reveals that he has weaned himself of the drug to stop the side effects.

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Limitless Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Limitless is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for Limitless

Limitless study guide contains a biography of director Neil Burger, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Limitless
• Character List
• Director's Influence

Essays for Limitless

Limitless essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Limitless, directed by Neil Burger.

• Signing deals with the devil of neo-liberalism: An analysis of Neil Burger’s Limitless (2011)

Wikipedia Entries for Limitless

• Introduction

The Life and Times of Ben Weinberg

Entrepreneur, ESL Teacher, Traveler, and Writer

‘Limitless’ – Film Review and Analysis

What if there was a special pill out there that you could take once a day that would suddenly allow you to tap into all your brain’s potential? What if you were able to recall everything you had ever learned, every language you had ever studied, and every fight move you ever watched? How would your life change if you able to fully actualize your abilities to your full potential, both physically and mentally? Now, you may think of these as silly questions but  Limitless  as a film does so in an entertaining and thought-provoking manner.

Instead of working hard, taking risks, and pushing ourselves to be better people,  Limitless  proposes a fictional scenario where a special pill, taken just once a day, can make all the difference. You don’t have to do any heavy lifting as the pill you take while unlock all your hidden potential allowing you to be free to pursue your dreams and goals. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well,  Limitless  lets the audience decides if this illustrious pill is worth the risk involved and whether you would even truly need a pill to become the best version of yourself.

Released in 2011 by Director Neil Burger,  Limitless  is a mixture of genres blending together to be quite a unique concoction including science fiction, drama, and even some action. The star actor in the film, Bradley Cooper, plays Eddie Morra, who is a struggling author living in New York City who is going through a serious case of writer’s block. Eddie is your typical Average Joe kind of character struggling to make his dreams and goals a reality. The viewer of the film is meant to feel a bit bad for Eddie’s situation since he seems to be doing his best to become a successful author.

However, from Eddie’s unkempt appearance including shaggy hair and heavy bags under his eyes, one’s sympathy for Eddie is undermined by the fact that he can’t even take care of himself physically let alone his apartment, which is a mess filled with strewn about clothes and dirty dishes. The main problem that we learn about Eddie is that he is a well-meaning guy, but he looks for shortcuts and is undisciplined to the point where he is behind on rent payments and his girlfriend is about to leave him.

Instead of changing his ways internally by looking at ways to make himself have more self-discipline and willpower, he instead looks for a shortcut to get himself out of his career, relationship, and financial woes. Eddie runs into Vernon, the brother of his ex-wife, who deals him a strange, new nootropic drug named NZT-48, which Vernon says will help Eddie unlock his brain’s capacity at 100%. Eddie is skeptical at first until he takes one pill and realizes that it is not just a joke and that he is now able to remember everything through enhanced memory and is able to write for hours without losing his concentration. He can also clean his messy apartment, befriend the landlord’s wife, and start to get his life in order.

Because of what this one pill did for him, Eddie goes back to Vernon for more NZT to keep his peak mental capacity going. Horrifically, he discovers Vernon murdered by people also looking for the NZT as well. Eddie is able to find Vernon’s secret stash, which allows him to keep using the nootropic drug to make his life bigger and better. While concerned about what just happened, Eddie becomes addicted to the NZT because of how effortlessly it improves his life and how much more successful he can be without really putting hard work into it.

The old adage of ‘Be careful what you wish for’ is prevalent throughout  Limitless  as Eddie increasingly puts himself and his girlfriend, Lindy (Abbie Cornish), into greater and greater danger. By needing to use more and more of the drug, Eddie gets addicted to both the potential and the power he gains from enhancing his mental abilities. He become stubborn enough to put himself in harm’s way all to risk it for a chance to becoming a powerful, successful, and wealthy man. Despite being at odds with an finance and investment tycoon, Carl van Loon (played by the legendary Robert De Niro), and being chased around New York City by loan sharks affiliated with the Russian mafia, Eddie’s life is doing a complete 360.

Because of the NZT, he has no shyness or doubts in his interpersonal skills. He gets Lindy, his girlfriend back into his life, he picks up multiple foreign languages including Italian and Mandarin Chinese, and he is able to build up his body through working out and martial arts. In addition, he can concentrate for hours on end and remembers everything he’s ever read, seen, or heard making him a mathematics whiz and an investment genius overnight.

The accumulation of wealth, power, and status can take a lifetime for some people with most never achieving the level that Eddie does in the film. NZT allows him to do it overnight but at a seemingly great risk to his health and survival. The NZT pill is wanted by van Loon and the Russian mafia with Eddie standing in their way. The climax of the film focuses on whether he will be able to use the pill and its abilities to outsmart those around him who would take it from him and leave him to die.

Eddie Mora is a flawed character who is seduced by a powerful nootropic that slowly but surely takes over his life. Actions have consequences and Eddie started mixing with the wrong people. Due to his frustrations with his life and not wanting to suffer to reach his goals, you could argue that he took the easy way out and it could cost him dearly. Had he persevered with his writing and started to take personal responsibility for where he was in life, perhaps he would have never gone to a drug dealer for the NZT in the first place.

This movie may not be one of the best movies of all-time but it is entertaining and carries a few nuggets regarding how any of us should not look for shortcuts in life when things get hard. Taking the easy way out comes with unintended consequences that may be more severe than we realize even when the payoff is really tempting. Eddie, instead of doubling down on his goals and becoming more disciplined and utilizing greater willpower in order to better his life, took the easy way out because he was not built of strong moral fiber. As a result, Eddie gets mixed in with the wrong people and risks his life for a drug that he can not live without.

Any of us, if we are not careful, can be seduced by quick wins and five-minute solutions when true personal development, both mentally and physically, takes years and even decades to get to a high level. While luck can help us along the way to shorten the road to success, it is perseverance, willpower, and the right mindset that can take us further in the long run.

You don’t need any kind of pill to produce a novel (strong shots of espresso maybe), to learn multiple languages, or to get into great physical shape. What’s holding you back are your excuses and your lack of action. With consistent effort and hard work, the goals that Eddie achieves because of NZT in this film can be achieved by the average person without needing what he needed. First, you need to believe in yourself and then you need to write down your goals and come with a plan of action to become successful. As mentioned earlier, true progress in personal development does not happen overnight but can take months and even years. With sustained effort and hard work, you’ll reach your goals and you’ll do it in the right way.

While far from a perfect film,  Limitless  is entertaining and thought-provoking regarding human nature and what the average person will do to change their lives by taking the easy way out. The story of ‘Limitless’ is a referendum on hoping for a magic pill to solve your problems rather than working through them by your own grit, sweat, and toughness.

The character of Eddie Morra fell to his own short-sighted belief in wanting success by any means necessary but I hope you, if you watch this film realize that it’s far more satisfying to achieve your dreams and your goals through your own hard work rather than looking for an easy fix in the form of a magic solution peddled by others, which may not work or get you into trouble.

I do want to recommend  Limitless  for the impressive visuals, the acting by Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, and the important life lessons that it imparts on the audience by the time the final credits of the film begin to roll.

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Author: Ben W.

Hello, I am an Entrepreneur in Online Education focusing on English as a Second Language Studies. I offer online courses and eBooks on English grammar, Business English, and English writing. I also recently released my first personal development guide. You can find all of these offerings below and please sign-up for updates to come! Thanks. View all posts by Ben W.

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Limitless Reviews

Every generation gets its Boiler Room.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 9, 2023

Limitless is frustrating because there are plenty of compelling ideas at work here, but they’re dumbed down by a screenplay that isn’t capable of being as intelligent as its central character.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 31, 2023

Although somewhat limited by the story and, noticeably, the budget, the boundless enthusiasm of its star stops any dullness setting in.

Full Review | Feb 15, 2022

Possesses a unique plot, fascinating concepts, and genuine thrills.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 30, 2020

Cooper is a blast here.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 14, 2020

Yes, it does have its faults, but I think people will be satisfied with what they get here.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 11, 2020

Limitless demonstrates with depressing finality that the power fantasies of adults are much more banal than the power fantasies of children.

Full Review | Sep 18, 2019

Behind the quick wit and instant gratification lies the hot pulse of a crime movie-it has the ingenuity of soft-core Tarantino...

Full Review | Aug 19, 2019

Strictly a no-thinking zone.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 7, 2019

This visually dazzling and briskly paced drama is a solid excursion with a strong lead performance from Bradley Cooper, but it never quite delivers on its potential after a first half that suggests bigger and better things.

Full Review | May 8, 2019

Limitless emerges as a science fiction film about human intelligence that is not only intelligent but also utterly entertaining and blessed unpretentious.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Feb 16, 2019

With arresting premise, visual and action, it's more than a thrill in a pill.

Full Review | Jan 28, 2019

It's hard to believe you'd be squinting at your watch in the dark while two of the most charismatic actors in Hollywood are on the screen in front of you.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jan 8, 2019

Limitless unfolds into an incongruent mess, and like its protagonist, has severely depleted serotonin levels by the time the credits roll.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 14, 2018

Once that buzz starts to wear thin, things become exhausting.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jan 29, 2018

Lots to think about. And I think it's a pretty good movie.

Full Review | Jun 29, 2017

The thriller structure of 'Limitless' and its turns that will mark out the course of action, lack the much needed quality of surprise. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Apr 27, 2016

Let's describe Neil Burger's latest as director "Abraham Polonsky's 'The Matrix.'" It's a hyper-local amped-up Manhattan melodrama that pulses through one man's mind, one user's bloodstream.

Full Review | Apr 8, 2014

Paradoxically absorbing, yet cliched and empty, this power-based New York story is a bit of an entertaining thrill ride, probably far more popcorn-engrossing than it deserves to be...

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Aug 15, 2013

Limitless brings the seduction of self-enhancement to your local cineplex in a witty package that's pretty enough to keep you intrigued

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jun 2, 2013

Limitless Review

23 Mar 2011

100 minutes

Wannabe writer Eddie (Cooper) is heartbroken, broke and blocked, until a friend slips him an experimental smart drug, transforming him from scuzzy loser into Hello!-retouched genius. Yes, it’s a Faust for the pharmaceutical age – an uglified Anna Friel pops up as a burned-out former addict – and Eddie soon finds himself haunted by blackouts and hunted by bad guys. Burger (The Illusionist) and Cooper both have enormous fun with the daft material, and it’s good to see De Niro on form, as a billionaire on the trail of Eddie’s secret. With a touch of Scott Pilgrim’s enhanced visuals and tongue firmly in cheek, it’s smart, stylish and entertaining – like Fincher’s The Game on crack.

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Movie “Limitless” directed by Neil Burger Essay

Director’s role.

Film critic entails making a comprehensive analysis on film. Different themes and characters have to be evaluated in order to illustrate the real nature of the film. The movie limitless was produced in the year 2011 and directed by Neil Burger. The movie featured Cooper Bradley, Abbie Cornish and Robert De Niro.

This movie, which was produced in the month of March 2011, is based on the story behind the novel The Dark Fields. The movie was developed based on the genre of Sci-Fi and it was the technology that was used in manufacturing the pills that was meant to bring out differences between reality and fiction. In addition, there were some aspects of comedy that were introduced as the movie progressed. For this reason, it combined thriller characteristics, humor and some aspects of Sci-Fi.

The movie was directed by Neil Burger, who took a very big initiative of using focal lengths judiciously to prevent the use of a lot of cameras. While it is common for contemporary films to have lots of cameras, the director decided to use focal lengths for the emphasis of different poses and scenes.

The scene’s transitions were also managed through strategic cuts that linked the various scenes for the benefit of flow. The director was therefore more attached with simplicity and as a result of the flexibility and simplicity of the shoots, the movie eradicated most important aspects like lighting and camera angles.

The movie starts by introducing the main character, Cooper, whose screen name is Eddie. Eddie, who is a writer, is brought out as a careless person, but full of writing aspirations. Although he has just landed a contract with a publishing company, he looks just like a joker to his friends. He is taken as a less serious person by not only his friends, but also his neighbors. He is met however by the brother of his former girlfriend, who offers a solution to Eddie’s problems through a pill that is alleged to trigger the activities of the brain.

From scientific studies, human brain is active to about 15 % in a lifetime. The pill that was given to Eddie was supposed to activate the entire brain, and thus made a person to be more than a genius. Although Eddie was reluctant to try out the pill, he went ahead and took the pill. Upon swallowing the pill, Eddie felt a unique sensation and started to conceptualize some issues that he hitherto could not comprehend.

The main idea behind the movie was making the pill look as the booster to the activities of the main character. The emphasis on the pill was brought out when the brother to Eddie’s former girlfriend was killed by unknown persons, who were interested in the pills.

The behavior associated with the pill was however not as captivating as expected. This is because the main issue was taken to the domestic scene, after Eddie started getting along well with his off-and-on girlfriend, Lindy. This came after Eddie started using the drugs and finished his book.

Eddie started to overuse the drugs after getting hold of them upon the death of his former girlfriend’s brother. His fame started to rise and his girlfriend renewed the intimacy but it did not last for long since he started to overuse the drugs. The new found energy and brilliance helped Eddie to be popular and started making deals with prosperous persons. The character of Eddie was being affected by his new found wonder of the pills. For this reason, his girlfriend started blaming him for lack of control over the pills.

The argument brings out the real character of Eddie and although the pill was meant to be positive boost for the movie, it turns out to be a negative influence when the audience is left to know about its consequences. It can therefore be seen that the pills, which were supposed to bring out a positive character from Eddie later turned out to be a negative influence.

Eddie was therefore brought out in his darker side after he failed to control the use of pills. The pills therefore helped in establishing a firmer basis for the movie. The pills were used by the movie directors to develop a stronger theme that was based on character change under external influence. The camera set up and the frequent change of scenes makes the movie to pull the audience closer to the flow but changes abruptly into another scene with completely different settings.

The theme of the movie was developed in a manner that was quite confusing to the audience. This is because there were different issues that were supposed to appear as the main issues in the movie. According to the director’s aim in the movie, the pills were supposed to be the main aim of the movie. This is because the movie then turned the focus on the character of the leads. The main character emphasized on the brilliance of the pills and this did not go well with his girlfriend, who insisted that Eddie change his character before it was too late.

The characters that were used had conflicting behaviors. The main character appeared to be a confused character, who took different roles as the movie progressed. Having started as a weak character and a lazy one, the pills amazingly made him active and brilliant. For this reason, the character definition was inclined towards the operation of the pills.

The changes in the movie flow from a smooth flow to a combination of fast-forwarded scenes that made no flow. After the pills started working, the character and the filming changed. While the director had embarked on fine filming, the introduction of the pills started to make the speed of scenes to increase.

Although the change in the speed of the transitions was meant to make an illustration of the functioning of the pills, the transitions created some confusion to the audience. The movie should have used different camera angles in order to illustrate the operations of the pills.

Changes in the camera positions and angles could also have influenced the understanding of the pills. In addition, the lighting of the movie was in a way not well illustrated since the movie had areas that required more lighting for emphasis. The director can therefore be said to have acted in less emphasis during the filming process.

As the movie progressed, the emphasis on the changed character of the leads made a complete turn to the flow. This is because there were cases when Eddie seemed to be in less control of the pills. Without the pills, the lead was in less control of his brilliance and for this reason they were developed as the main issues for the movie.

They were therefore boosts for the lead and they altered the flow of the story from the brilliance and pursuit of career. The argument with his wife helped to bring out the issues of lack of control and it established a basis of controversy. The investors who found interest in the brilliance of the lead were at times confused over the change in behavior of the lead.

The movie was however thrilling and filled with humor. While it was based on science fiction, lots of humor was brought out as the character continued to display different humorous behaviors. It can therefore be seen that while the director wanted the movie to be based on scientific fiction, the concept was less based on any scientific fiction.

It was more of a comedy since the character change after the lead took the pills. This means that the director failed in his bid to make the paper to fit within the scientific fiction genre. The soundtracks seemed to be off the track at some instances since they developed different themes and failed to emphasis on the activities of the movie.

There were many issues other than the effects of the pills that were presented by the director. Firstly, there was the case of love that was evident between the leads. As the movie progressed, there was an increase in the love between Eddie and his girlfriend. These different themes created some issues that contradicted with the main issue of making the pill to be a wonder for the movie.

There was also another issue of suspense that was barely presented in the movie. This is because the movie had issues that were not supposed to be presented directly, but rather as a form of suspense. From the scenes developed after taking the pills, there was an opportunity of developing suspense in order to make the movie more appealing and captivating.

The movie can therefore be taken to be a sensation, but failed in certain areas. The color, filming angles and lighting seemed to work well save for some scenes like when the lead had to walk for long distances after meeting with the investors interested in his brilliance. The walk, made the audience to be confused over the real effects of the drugs, taking that the pills were first attached to the brilliance in the brain rather than body power. The walk was therefore confusing since the audience could not believe the real issues of the pills.

The movie was very illustrated with lots of emphasis on the behaviors of the effects of the pills. The soundtracks that were backing up the movie seemed to bring out different scenarios and issues that looked less of a Sci-Fi as it was supposed to be. Irrespective of these changes, the movie was more thrilling and appealing due to the humor that was developed in the movie.

The characters and especially the lead managed to bring out expertise and professionalism. The character change was illustrated by the lead’s girlfriend and it was only after the start of the argument that the audience were pulled to the reality of the darker side of the lead.

In conclusion, the movie managed to bring out the thrill that was expected and although the Sci-Fi attributes were never realized to the fullest, the movie managed to bring out humor and a story that was easy to follow. The filming issues were less involving and for this reason, some of the thrills were covered by the lack of proper filming techniques.

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IvyPanda. (2020, April 25). Movie "Limitless" directed by Neil Burger. https://ivypanda.com/essays/movie-limitless-directed-by-neil-burger/

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IvyPanda . (2020) 'Movie "Limitless" directed by Neil Burger'. 25 April.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Movie "Limitless" directed by Neil Burger." April 25, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/movie-limitless-directed-by-neil-burger/.

1. IvyPanda . "Movie "Limitless" directed by Neil Burger." April 25, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/movie-limitless-directed-by-neil-burger/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Movie "Limitless" directed by Neil Burger." April 25, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/movie-limitless-directed-by-neil-burger/.

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Screen Rant

'limitless' review.

'Limitless' has an intriguing concept - and while it's not explored as deeply as it could have been, the film still delivers a satisfying ride.

Screen Rant's Vic Holtreman reviews Limitless

Limitless wasn't quite what I expected - but that's OK. Actually I'm not sure what I was expecting, but what I got was more of a popcorn movie than a "serious" action film - and there's nothing wrong with that.

The roguishly handsome Bradley Cooper plays Eddie Morra, a self-proclaimed writer who has yet to, you know... actually WRITE anything. He's got ultimate writer's block - can't even get the first word of his novel typed on the computer. He looks like a homeless guy and has been dumped by his got-her-stuff-together (not in a bad way) girlfriend. Eddie isn't too happy with himself, and in a moment of honesty admits to someone he hasn't seen in a very long time that things aren't going well in his life.

Well this friend has just what the doctor ordered in the way of a new pill that allows people at access 100% of their brain (as opposed to 20%, even though I've always heard it stated as 10%). Eddie is skeptical at first but figures he has nothing to lose - and when he takes the pill the results are nothing short of a revelation. It's like he's been seeing things through a fog and now a bright light is being shined on the world around him with everything in super-sharp focus. He can recall EVERYTHING he's ever seen or learned instantly and process it as needed.

The scene in which this first happens is done very well, with director Neil Burger ( The Illusionist ) effectively putting us in Eddie's place not only experiencing the revelation of what's happening but the process of him putting everything together on the fly, smoothly and seamlessly. Burger does a lot of interesting stuff in the film - some might call it gimmicky. The creative visual effects combined with Bradley Cooper's voice over had me thinking a lot about David Fincher's Fight Club . This film isn't anywhere close to that as far as depth of character and story - but it felt like.... " Fight Club Lite." And I don't mean that in a negative way.

We get to go along for the exhilarating ride for a while, but soon things get ugly and it becomes clear that other people not only know about this drug, but will stop at nothing to get it. Eddie secures a finite supply and commences transforming his life on turbo charge. As you can imagine, in addition to the fact there are others who want the drug, the benefits don't come without a down side.

The film rests almost completely on the shoulders of Bradley Cooper and his charm, and he manages to do the job fairly well. He's so affable and good looking that you can't help but cut the guy slack when he's on screen. On the other side of the spectrum we have Robert DeNiro being Robert DeNiro (I love when he does that). In a small supporting role we also have Andrew Howard as a Russian mobster not to be messed with, and his character and performance are also one of the more enjoyable things about the film.

Limitless isn't deep, but it has a fairly smart script that moves along nicely written by Leslie Dixon ( Mrs. Doubtfire, Pay it Forward, The Thomas Crowne Affair ). The screenplay is based on a novel by Alan Glynn, with which I'm completely unfamiliar - so I have no idea how much it might have diverged from the source material.

This is more of a popcorn movie than I had expected - I went in hoping for something with a bit more substance and perhaps commentary and consequences regarding the use of a fantasy drug that many of us would probably not turn down, but while there was surface level attention paid to that, it didn't really dig into it. The ending was a bit pat but kind of expected based on the tone, but not unsatisfactory.

I was really torn between a 3.5 and a 4 out of 5... I settled on the former because while the film was slick and fairly satisfying, it left me wanting something "meatier" throughout the viewing. In the end I'd say if you go check this out in the hopes of being entertained that it will do the job for you.

Here's a trailer for Limitless :

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Metacritic reviews

• 83 Tampa Bay Times Steve Persall Tampa Bay Times Steve Persall For two hours it's a fun head trip.
• 83 Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman In Limitless, a potently fanciful and fun thriller about a drug that turns you into a genius, Cooper proves a cock-of-the-walk movie star.
• 80 Arizona Republic Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic Bill Goodykoontz Some of its conceits may not hold up under intense scrutiny, but, generally speaking, it's a good time at the movies.
• 80 Chicago Reader J.R. Jones Chicago Reader J.R. Jones Some might call this movie a step backward after Burger's previous feature, the painfully honest Iraq war drama "The Lucky Ones," but as a stylish intrigue it's hard to beat.
• 75 Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips Almost all of it works as wish-fulfillment fantasy.
• 63 Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore This film based on Alan Glynn's novel "Dark Fields" is entirely too reliant on voice-over, a bit too tarted-up by Burger in an effort to make this head trip a visual experience.
• 50 The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt Limitless should be so much smarter than it is.
• 50 Observer Rex Reed Observer Rex Reed Directed with a pulsating fervor by Neil Burger, Limitless is absurd but entertaining action-adventure escapism. Bradley Cooper is versatile and virile, and a valiant leading man.
• 40 Village Voice Nick Schager Village Voice Nick Schager Without a complex thought about narcissism, merit, or addiction, Limitless is content to be an empty, one-note, satire-free fairy tale of avarice and corporate-political ambition.
• 40 Time Out Keith Uhlich Time Out Keith Uhlich As we work our way back to that cliff-hanger of an opening, it becomes clear that the movie is no acid critique, but a hollow endorsement of high living. Guess every generation gets its "Boiler Room."
• See all 37 reviews on Metacritic.com
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Limitless: Some Thoughts About the Film

Would you take a pill to have "limitless" mental ability.

Posted November 21, 2011

I didn't get a chance to see to see the film Limitless when it was in theatres, but I recently saw it on the small screen. Before I talk about it, though if you haven't seen it, here's an overview, from IMDB :

An action-thriller about a writer who takes an experimental drug that allows him to use 100 percent of his mind. As one man evolves into the perfect version of himself, forces more corrupt than he can imagine mark him for assassination. Out-of-work writer Eddie Morra's (Cooper) rejection by girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) confirms his belief that he has zero future. That all vanishes the day an old friend introduces Eddie to NZT, a designer pharmaceutical that makes him laser focused and more confident than any man alive. Now on an NZT-fueled odyssey, everything Eddie's read, heard or seen is instantly organized and available to him. As the former nobody rises to the top of the financial world, he draws the attention of business mogul Carl Van Loon (De Niro), who sees this enhanced version of Eddie as the tool to make billions. But brutal side effects jeopardize his meteoric ascent... Written by Relativity Media

Note that the concept that we normally only "use a small percentage of our brains" isn't accurate, so a drug that enables us to use "100%" doesn't make sense. Below is this summary from Wikipedia about this myth and its inaccuracy (and yes, I know that Wikipedia isn't always correct, but in this case it's close enough. Here's a link to a Scientific American article about the topic):

Scientific accuracy At the start of the film a marijuana dealer says that we can only access 20% of our brain (and that NZT lets a person access all of it), referring to a common myth . The mechanism of how the drug actually works is never scientifically explained in the film. Neurologist Barry Gordona describes the myth as laughably false, adding, "we use virtually every part of the brain, and that [most of] the brain is active almost all the time",[9] and neuroscientist Barry Beyerstein has set out seven kinds of evidence refuting the ten percent myth.[10] Physics professor James Kakalios said it was plausible that medical science could improve intelligence , but that neurochemistry is not advanced enough for it to be achieved currently. Kakalios also said the notion used in the film that human beings can only access 10% of their brains is a myth : 100% of it is used at different times. Kakalios said if such a pill existed, a person running out of the supply could actually experience a rebound effect .[11] This is alluded to in the movie, as the protagonist's ex-wife explains that she can't concentrate for more than 10 minutes at a time after coming off the drug.

But that's not what I want to address. I was fascinated by several aspects of the film, particularly the idea of being able to obtain enhanced mental abilities-in essence, a superpower-and its consequences. Medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are sometimes referred to as cognitive enhancers or neuroenhancers because of their ability to help people focus their attention by "enhancing" their baseline level of attention.

If each person could have his or her mental abilities enhanced with medication , what might that mean for society? If all of us could obtain the same superpower, would it be a superpower? To paraphrase Dash from the film The Incredibles , if everyone is special, then in a way, no one is. Of course if such an enhancement pill or procedure were available, the likely reality is that it wouldn't be available to all of us.

If it's only available to some of us, though, then it's not playing "fair" for those special recipients to use it for an advantage. Yet if it were possible to do mental exercises to enhance mental ability (such as reading, attending classes, doing special logic puzzles), that would probably seem fair to most people, as long as these mental exercises were available to all who wanted them (and cost wasn't a barrier–there could be scholarships). Doing such exercises means earning the enhanced abilities. Putting in time and effort. It's analogous to the practice involved to play an instrument at a high level or to be an elite athlete . Such folks may start out with a certain level of talent, but they earn their way into high level so achievement.

What can rankle about the enhanced ability of the protagonist in Limitless is that he didn't earn the ability. He took a mental "steroid" to boost his performance and took advantage of it. He played dirty.

Copyright 2011 by Robin S. Rosenberg. All rights reserved.
Robin S. Rosenberg is a clinical psychologist. Her website is DrRobinRosenberg.com and she also blogs on Huffington Post . Her most recent book is The Psychology of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo .

Robin S. Rosenb erg , Ph.D. , has taught psychology at Lesley University and Harvard University. She is the editor of the anthology The Psychology of Superheroes .

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‘limitless’ review.

FILM REVIEW: A movie about a ‘smart pill’ takes some dumb plot turns.

By Kirk Honeycutt

Kirk Honeycutt

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Bradley Cooper and Abbie Cornish are lovers in a not-so-smart thriller.

L imitless should be so much smarter than it is. The movie is about a down-and-out guy who takes a “smart pill,” then can instantly write a book in four days, learn a language in hours and run rings around lawyers, criminals and financial advisers. He’s a mega-brain on steroids, a Superman for the Information Age. He is also a comic reflection of a cultural shift in American perceptions of masculinity that is beginning to value a Bill Gates or Steve Jobs more than a Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. Alas, the filmmakers don’t use him very smartly.

The protagonist is well played by Bradley Cooper, who performs the transformations with aplomb, but once the movie turns him into a mega-brain, its makers can’t quite figure out what to do with him: Do we want him to be funny or serious? First the movie puts him through a few “magic tricks” that look like an audition for Wall Street 3: A Money Mind Never Sleeps . After this, it throws him into a routine paranoid action thriller. Disappointing.

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Not so disappointing, though, that Relativity won’t see some smart money heading its way as Cooper goes into overdrive in a performance that makes a script by the estimable Leslie Dixon ( Outrageous Fortune ) and quirky direction by Neil Burger ( The Illusionist ) seem better than they are.

A New York author named Eddie Morra (Cooper) is faced with monumental “writer’s block” — i.e., he hasn’t written a single word of a long overdue novel — then gets a sweet goodbye from his long-suffering girlfriend, Lindy (Abbie Cornish). By chance, he runs into his former-brother-in-law (Johnny Whitworth). Always a slick hustler, this Mephistopheles is pushing a new, unregulated drug called NZT. Naturally, he gives Eddie a sample.

The pharmaceutical allows Eddie access to 100% of his brain. The effect apparently wears off in a day, but when Eddie goes back to his supplier for more pills he finds that another client in an even more acute situation has murdered him and tossed his apartment. Fortunately, Eddie is able to find — without benefit of a smart pill — the entire drug stash, enough for many, many months.

In no time, “enhanced Eddie” has dashed off his novel, speaks Italian to a maitre d’, bangs every girl he desires and amasses a fortune playing the stock market. His girlfriend now wants him back and a mega-mogul, Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro) — gotta love that name — brings him aboard to mastermind a huge corporate merger.

Burger tries all kinds of visual trickery to imagine the hyperflow of information into a highly receptive brain: When Eddie is writing, letters fall from the ceiling; multiple Eddies are seen performing tasks; flattering light gently bathes Eddie’s face; and, in the most inventive yet strangely unsuccessful gimmick, the camera appears to rush through Manhattan streets, gobbling up blocks within seconds.

The movie takes a couple of hard right turns before getting to the effects of such persistent and strenuous use of a brain’s synapses. First, Eddie switches careers by becoming the overnight wonder boy of Wall Street– a turn that brings the movie to a near halt with computer day trading, conferences with brokers, meetings with Van Loon and a litany of data and flow charts that stops just short of power-point boredom.

Then gangsters and stalkers begin to shadow him. And police begin to dog Eddie, whom they suspect of murdering a young model. It feels like a desperate attempt to up the suspense ante, and meanwhile potentially fruitful plot elements such as Eddie’s newfound relationship with Libby and his confrontation with an ex-wife (Anna Friel), who suffers from the aftereffects of prolonged NZT use, get tossed aside.

Well, filmmakers tell the stories they want to tell, but here those choices compromised the movie –instead of letting this Faustian tale run its natural, uncharted course, it indulges in the kind of  bloody showdown you can see in any number of crude genre movies.

Opens Friday, March 18 (Relativity) Cast Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish, Anna Friel, Andrew Howard Director Neil Burger Producers Leslie Dixon, Scott Knoopf, Ryan Kavanaugh Rated PG-13, 105 minutes

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By New York Times Games

Hi busy bees! Welcome to today’s Spelling Bee forum. There are a number of terms that appear in both this article and other online discussions of the Spelling Bee; a glossary of those terms compiled by Monicat, a Times reader, can be found below.

Spelling Bee Grid

Center letter is in bold .

a f i n o t x

WORDS: 36, POINTS: 189, PANGRAMS: 1

Two letter list:

af-3 an-7 at-2 ax-1 fa-1 fi-2 fo-1 in-3 io-1 na-5 no-2 ta-7 ti-1

Further Reading

Want a live grid and two letter list that updates as you find words? Try Spelling Bee Buddy .

Need a little more help? Check out Getting to Genius , our latest guide to getting better at the game.

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