DVD Reviews

Limitless – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Jul 27, 2011, 14:18 GMT

Bradley Cooper (The A-Team) and two-time Academy-Award winner Robert De Niro, star in this provocative and action packed-thriller with unlimited surprising twists. Eddie Morra (Cooper), a burnt-out writer, discovers a top-secret pill that unlocks 100% of his brain’s capacity. He instantly acquires mind-bending talents and mesmerizing visions that bring him big money, beautiful women and limitless success. But his dream life soon becomes a waking nightmare, as the drug’s brutal ...more

The review was due and I hadn’t written a word.  I decided to take a magic pill that would allow my brain to use one-hundred-percent of its capacity to assist me in writing this review.  Unfortunately, it turned out I grabbed the wrong pill and Ibuprofen don’t do nothing to help. 

Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is a loser.  He’s been given an advance to write a novel that he hasn’t started on, he’s late on his rent, and his girlfriend Libby (Abbie Cornish) has broken up with him, probably recognizing his budding alcoholism. 

A defeated Eddie wanders down the street and runs into his drug dealing ex-brother-in-law Vernon (Johnny Whitworth).  Vernon claims to have gone legit and is in the pharmaceutical business.  He offers Eddie an experimental drug called NZT-48 which supposedly allows the taker to unlock one-hundred percent of their brain.  Eddie is suspicious at first, but since he’s such a loser he’s got nothing to lose. 

Sure enough, the pill does what its supposed to do and Eddies uses his newfound brainpower to his advantage.  That is until the pill wears off.  So Eddie is off to Vernon’s to find another dose.  Vernon is happy to comply but first Eddie has to pick up his dry cleaning and get them some breakfast. 

When Eddie returns he finds the place tossed and Vernon dead.  Eddie calls 911 but in the meantime he uses his own brainpower to ferret out Vernon’s stash of NZT-48 and starts regularly taking it. 

Soon he’s a wunderkind and a rising star, so flashy a moneymaker that he comes to the attention of tycoon Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro).  Things look rosy for Eddie until the side effects of the drug start to rear their ugly head. 

Limitless was a surprise hit so obviously some marketing genius found his own supply of NZT-48.  It wasn’t expecting to be number one on its opening weekend, but viola – it did.  Eventually the 27 million dollar film would gross 155 million at the box office.  Genius. 

The film does feature a charismatic lead in Bradley Cooper (my office co-worker swoons at the mention of the name).  He doesn’t do much for me, but he’s good in this film. 

The plot borrows liberally from Flowers for Algernon and Charly, the movie inspired by Flowers and would win Cliff Robertson a best actor Oscar.  The more current hero is more of a sad sack than mentally retarded, but the pharmaceutical rise and fall parallels the earlier work. 

The film also uses and interesting camera trick – when Eddie is on the drug his environment is brightened and clear but in his real life it’s a murkier look.  Even better is a good turn by De Niro who has a middle of the film speech that proves that his acting skills haven’t deteriorated (some films recently made me wonder). 

We all wished we could take a pill and make our life better and Limitless plays on that wish to provide a compelling film.  It’s not a perfect film (who was the murderer?) but it is a fun, pharmaceutically enhanced ride.

Limitless is presented in widescreen (2.40:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features include a commentary from director Neil Burger, two making ofs (the 4 minute “A Man Without Limits” and the 11 minute “Taking it to the Limit”), a 5 minute alternate ending, and the 2 minute theatrical trailer. 

You also get the theatrical and unrated cut of the film, but the difference is about a minute of footage. 

Limitless has some limits, but it is a film that kept my limited mind interested until the final credits. 

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