Plot
Edward "Eddie" Morra (
Bradley Cooper) is a writer who lives in New York City and has recently been dumped by his girlfriend Lindy (
Abbie Cornish) in addition to failing to meet the deadline to turn in his new book, which he hasn't started yet. One day, Eddie comes across Vernon Gant (
Johnny Whitworth), the brother of his ex-wife, Melissa Gant (
Anna Friel). Vernon is a
drug dealer who offers Eddie a sample of a new
nootropic drug, NZT-48, claiming it has the ability for humans to access 100% of the brain's power, as opposed to the normal 20%. Eddie accepts, and, much to his surprise, the drug does indeed work, allowing him to finish his book.
Eddie asks Vernon for more of the drug, and Vernon agrees, after Eddie runs a few errands for him. When Eddie returns to Vernon's apartment, he finds Vernon murdered and promptly calls the police. He quickly deduces that Vernon was probably killed by someone who wanted his stash of NZT, and he searches Vernon's apartment for it. He finds the stash of NZT and a wad of cash and uses it to turn his life around. He abandons his writing career and starts trading
stocks, borrowing capital from a
Russian thug, Gennady. He becomes rich at an incredibly fast pace and is soon employed by the powerful businessman Carl Van Loon (
Robert DeNiro). Eddie also gets back together with Lindy. Meanwhile, he feels that he is being followed by a man in a tan coat (
Tomas Arana). He also starts using more and more NZT, causing side effects to occur: lost time, frenetic activity, and heart palpitations.
Eddie fails to accomplish a task assigned to him by Carl because of an NZT hangover, and fears he might even have killed a woman during some lost time. He is contacted by his ex-wife Melissa and learns that she had been an NZT addict and that withdrawal from the drug causes major health and mental problems, possibly resulting in death. She warns Eddie to taper off the NZT before it's too late. When Gennady comes calling, he tries one of Eddie's pills. Gennady quickly realises the drug's effects and threatens Eddie until he agrees to give him more NZT, which Eddie supplies.
Despite Melissa's warnings, Eddie manages his consumption of the drug down to an acceptable level, and uses his fortune to hire a scientist to work on
reverse engineering NZT, a process that could take years. He assists Carl again, this time on a big company merger deal with a rival businessman. Before the deal can take place, the rival falls ill, and Eddie understands that this illness must be due to withdrawal from NZT. Noticing the man in the tan coat working with the rival, he realizes the man's true mission—to steal Eddie's stash of NZT for his boss. Before the deal can take place, the stash is successfully stolen. Seeing no way out and desperate for more NZT, he returns home to find he has been followed by Gennady, but manages to kill him and his two thugs with intelligence gained from what he believes to be the last of the NZT—drank directly from Gennady's bloodstream. Later that night, Carl's business rival dies, and Eddie agrees to work with the man in the tan coat to retrieve his stolen NZT.
One year later, Eddie's book has been published (titled
Illuminating the Dark Fields—a reference to the novel on which the film is based), and Eddie is running for the United States Senate. In the midst of his campaign, Carl approaches Eddie with the revelation that he bought the company that secretly makes NZT and the back room NZT lab Eddie was financing has been shut down. Carl offers him an unlimited supply of NZT (admitting that they both know he is headed for Presidency); however, Eddie must use his political position to push Carl's agenda in return. Eddie refuses the offer, informing Carl that he no longer needs the drug. His prolonged use, plus a modified version by his private scientist has allowed him to come off of the drug. He also suggests that the drug may have permanently enhanced his brain. In the film's last scene, Eddie is eating lunch with Lindy, conversing with the waiter in
Mandarin Chinese, and it is left ambiguous as to whether or not he is actually off of NZT-48.
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[An] ingenious, extremely violent thriller...
What's fresh about this concept is how it turns perfect intelligence into a superpower and tries to imagine its real-world applications. What's less fresh is the ensuing plot...
You'll definitely regret it in the morning, and wonder what the hell you were thinking, but as hedonistic cinema trips go, Limitless's power to entertain - while it might not live up to its title - just about extends to its 105 minute running time.
It's scatty and fast paced, and director Neil Burger employs some Gaspar Noé-style, bad-trip CG effects to heighten the mood.
A loopy joy from start to finish, Bradley Cooper proves that he's the real deal.
A fun romp in this cautionary tale that glides by relying heavily on star Bradley Cooper's charisma.
... a humdinger of a science fiction thriller that scoots easily from shaggy-dog fable to noir mystery to conspiracy thriller and winds up on the dark side of Twilight Zone.
Moves so fast you don't have time to think
Fine cast and premise sullied by soulless handling. Frustratingly limited in its power to entertain and engross.
A bracing story that examines what intelligence will and will not buy and what is the effect that such a drug would have on society
...a fascinating thriller with fine pace that never lets up.
A movie that gets a lot of mileage out of good old-fashioned wish fulfillment. Consistently entertaining.
Part fantasy fulfillment, part paranoid thriller, this is a subversive Faustian tale.
Limitless fails to reach its potential.
Despite some illogical plot turns it's a Hollywood film that for once refuses to get moralistic about its vacuous premise...
A flashy techno-thriller.
You almost feel yourself getting smarter as you watch. Remember how you felt sitting through Transformers 2? Kind of the opposite of that.
Like a fast-food shake, the film tastes vaguely metallic and predominately of something approximating vanilla... sometimes you've just gotta satisfy your cravings.
...a watchable yet far-from-engrossing high-finance thriller.
It's a little like the question posed by the classic 'Flowers for Algernon': What would happen to a person who suddenly became brilliant?
![Source: Guardian [UK]](http://images.rottentomatoescdn.com/images/icons/offsite.gif "Source: Guardian [UK]"){kind=icon}
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