Limitless’ exceeds expectations despite script
March 31, 2011
A mediocre script couldn’t stop Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro from bringing amazing performances to the movie screen in Limitless, a thriller that shows how fast a drug can change your life.
To be limitless is to be without boundaries or restraints; this is exactly the case for Eddie Morra (Cooper), a struggling writer who stumbles across a black-market drug, NZT, after running into a shady acquaintance from his past.
The drug is engineered to allow a person to access the full spectrum of their brain. With the NZT in his system, Morra is able to do the impossible; however, like most drugs, the effects of the NZT wear off after a substantially short amount of time, lasting a day at most.
Morra quickly discovers the many dangers that accompany the NZT when his dealer is murdered only days after beginning business with Morra. Even still, Morra believes the positive effects of the NZT far outweigh the negatives that come with using the drug.
Not much time passes before Morra makes his way into the corporate world of Wall Street, working in the financial sector of the company he works for. Before long, he has caught the eye of the Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro), the CEO of the company.
Working closely with Van Loon, and taking a tablet of NZT a day, Morra has access to all he needs to get ahead in life, and everything seems to be going according to plan until Morra discovers the risks associated with NZT.
It comes down to life or death. Once his stash is gone, he will die. Morra is now forced to confront the issue of replenishing his stash while running from a hit man. Trying to keep himself alive, Morra is shown the true abilities of the NZT as he attempts to do the impossible.
With few main characters in this movie, it was imperative that the actors delivered phenomenal performances, and with the all-star cast presented in this film, nothing less was given. Cooper was in a difficult position being cast alongside such a revered actor like De Niro; however, he was not to be upstaged.
Cooper did an amazing job switching between the well put together role of NZT Morra and the unkempt, sloppy, erratic writer Eddie. De Niro produced nothing less than what can be expected from an actor with his talents. He portrayed his stuck-up, pushy CEO role flawlessly. Nevertheless, the film’s main focus was Cooper’s role.
While this movie had an amazing cast accompanied with a great storyline, the script was nothing special. What saved the movie was the plot and the actor’s delivery of their characters. Overall, the movie had a great crowd appeal and was very entertaining.