By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
The lure of popping a pill that offers instant access to everything ever heard, read or seen ? even the obscure or only half-listened to ? is seductive indeed.
By John Baer, Relativity Media
Take as needed for outrageous brainpower: Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper explore the mind's true potential.
By John Baer, Relativity Media
Take as needed for outrageous brainpower: Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper explore the mind's true potential.
Forget those antioxidants and omega-3s. Ingest a tiny, clear tablet and tap the brain's full potential, unleashing the ability to learn a language in hours, absorb complex equations and write books in a day.
Bradley Cooper plays Eddie Mora, a blocked novelist whose life changes drastically as he succumbs to this chemically induced intellectual enhancement.
Limitless, a sci-fi fantasy thriller based on Alan Glynn's novel The Dark Fields, is surprisingly witty. Some of the best lines are delivered sardonically in the intermittent voice-over narration, a device that works better here than in most movies.
"I suddenly knew everything about everything," Eddie says. Even fear and shyness disappear as his brainpower shifts into overdrive.
Initially, "NZT" renders Eddie unusually neat and clear-headed and takes away his appetite.
"What was this drug that made me abstemious and tidy?" he muses.
* * * out of four
Stars: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish, Anna Friel
Director: Neil Burger
Distributor: Relativity Media
Rating: PG-13 for thematic material including a drug, violence including disturbing images, sexuality and language
Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Opens Friday nationwide
He finishes his novel, overhauls his grungy apartment, cuts his unkempt hair, dons a well-cut suit and slides into investment banking. When questioned, Eddie arrogantly insists: "I don't have delusions of grandeur. I have an actual recipe for grandeur."
With his daily fix, he has become rich and powerful overnight, influencing the elite, including Robert De Niro, who plays a financial powerhouse. Eddie even wins back Lindy (Abbie Cornish), the girlfriend who left him during his slacker days.
"Obscure memories and half-watched PBS shows all bubbled up in my consciousness," Eddie recalls. He remembers book titles he had barely registered seeing ? and, more impressively, knows what is contained inside their covers.
But addiction does not come without a price. Eddie soon has a scary Russian mobster after him and gets embroiled in a murder investigation. He also learns that, unlike what he was told, the drug was not approved by the FDA, and withdrawal is a fearsome prospect.
With his inherent charm, Cooper is well-cast in the role. He can smoothly pull off the part of a guy with a suddenly surging "four-digit IQ." De Niro, in a smaller but pivotal role, is also excellent. Other supporting parts are less distinguished.
The look of this darkly funny thriller is mesmerizing, especially the rapid-fire, paranoia-inducing camera zooms of Eddie's world while on NZT, with its saturated colors. Director Neil Burger (The Illusionist) is a talented visual stylist, and his film has an evocative production design.
A brutal fight involving Eddie, his Russian nemesis and some henchmen drags on too long. But its climactic moment would make Bram Stoker proud.
Better living through chemistry is a debatable notion satirically explored in this briskly paced, suspenseful thriller.
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