Written by: Leslie Dixon, and Alan Glynn (based on his book, ‘The Dark Fields’.)
Studio: Relativity Media.
Distributed by: Rogue.
Year of release: 2011.
Run time: 105 Minutes.
Budget: $27 Million.
Gross revenue: $69, 904, 000.
Before I went into this movie, I thought it was going to be one of those bogus sci-fi films produced solely to appeal to a mainstream audience. When it began, such dialogue as “You know how we only use twenty percent of our brains? Well this drug allows us to use one hundred percent!”*, only confirmed my suspicions. Of course we don’t only use twenty percent of our brains; we use one hundred percent, though at different times depending on what task we are doing. But this is Hollywood friends, and such clichés can create millionaires.
When such a line is uttered in a movie; one that appeals to the vague pseudo-scientific clichés that we are all used to hearing, you can instantly see how the creative process works in a desperate writer struggling to find that idea that is going to allow them to crack an industry coated with strong carbon to carbon bonds (my attempt at scientific humour). You can just imagine how it would have went down: Alan Glynn, a struggling writer who, after having just opened his seventh rejection letter and spending the rest of the afternoon in the foetal position on his floor, finally manages to pull his shit together and think to himself “I need a new idea. Something groovy and scientific that has never been done before. What are some of the facts about the human body that you always hear on television? How about: We only ever use twenty percent of our brains? What if someone invented a pill that could unlock the other eighty percent? What if you took that pill and were able to become a super genius?” Add a notebook computer, and copious amounts of coffee and you’re onto a winning idea.
Scientific accuracy aside, the idea that we are never able to reach our true potential is a fun idea to contemplate, and it certainly seems original enough. Although Limitless is indeed one of those dreaded mainstream science fiction movies that doesn’t adequately speculate on the implications of future technology, it’s pretty entertaining. Bradley Cooper nails it as the emotionally retarded Eddie, who discovers the pill through a friend and transforms from a loser with writer’s block, to a super-intelligent, over-confident, stock-broker who turns pennies into millions in the space of a working week.
There is certainly a skeleton philosophical speculation here. I don’t know about anyone else, but I detected a hint of allegory within Limitless. The mysterious pill not only allows people to realise their full potential for intelligence, it also manages to free you from the anxiety and self-doubt which the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Illness would class as depression. Bradley Cooper might as well be downing Zoloft or Prozac in this flick because, after being on a steady dose of the magic pill, he manages to get his confidence back. He gets his hair-cut, cleans up his apartment and acquires a slick new wardrobe. Brimming with self-confidence, he is free to seduce exotic women and live the high-life of American narcissism. The film does hint at the idea that requiring a pill to be happy might not be the best thing for the human soul, but the ending of Limitless seems to undo this. Nothing is really said about the magical drug; whether it is good or bad, or even neutral. I didn’t feel a sense of closure at the end of the movie, and it only led me to reconfirm that this is a popcorn movie, pure and simple.
Robert Deniro does his best work in a long time here, and I’ll always have a soft-spot for Abbie Cornish after Candy. There is also some interesting camera trickery here, which is used to create a perpetual city street in the style of those never ending paintings that pop up on the internet from time to time.
Something leads me to believe that the book that Limitless is based on might explore the themes in greater depth—as is usually the case with Hollywood adaptations. However, as a far as popcorn movies go, you could do a lot worse than Limitless. At the beginning of the movie there was a trailer for the highly anticipated The Green Lantern, and I’m telling you right now, you couldn’t pay me to sit through that one.
Three stars:
* Incidentally, does anyone else think of Wedding Crashers whenever they hear this little nugget of ‘info.’ Whenever someone tells me that we only use twenty percent of our brains, I always think of Owen Wilson telling Rachel McAdams “...I like to think we only use twenty percent of our hearts.”
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