Limitless (2011)

Limitless stars Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro and Abbie Cornish.  Limitless centers around Bradley's character who is an underperforming writer who finds a drug that unlocks full usage of the brain.  That could come in handy right now because I'm having trouble creating this blog post!

Acting is nothing short of what you would expect from one of the most hyped and talked about films of the first part of the year.  Cooper nailed, in my opinion, his first major lead of his career.  What I mean by that is the film was not like The Hangover where there were a group of guys the film focused on.  Limitless was also not like some of his other roles where he was the lead, but not of the same caliber.  Staring along side Robert DeNiro, and also executive producing, is most likely the biggest opportunity to continue to further his career he has had.

I enjoyed DeNiro in this film as he did not act as he does in most of his films.  When younger he had a wide range of versatility to his acting which has declined over the years.  This is not to say he has recessed as an actor, it is simply to say he has done many of the same roll and acted them similarly.  DeNiro seemed to bring a bit more of his flare to Limitless which is what I enjoyed so much.

In the first film I have seen her in, Abbie Cornish fit the role pretty well.  Her acting was nothing to rave about in the context of this film, but she pulled her own weight and did a nice job adding to the cast.

The concept of Limitless was solid and the script was very entertaining.  The film is very thrilling and keeps you on the edge of your seat multiple times throughout.  There were a few plot holes that really seemed to be put there only so they could explain some of the weird coincidences that happened, but it does not take away from the enjoyability overall.

Most of the enjoyability comes from the story of what he is able to do while on the drug.  Most of the things are very realistic, considering the most unlikely concept that a pill like this is remotely possible.  I enjoyed how he was able to recall things he has seen in the past, how he was able to flip conversations and how he was able to mold a new "world" for himself.  I didn't think anything was really unfeasible.

I was not overly impressed with the ending.  I did not like how he fixed the side effects of the drug.  I thought the entire ending was a bit to happy and perfect.  I also did not like how the final conversation between Cooper and DeNiro played out.

Limitless is a wild ride that will keep you entertained and is well worth the watch.  I am delivering a 4 star review despite certain flaws.  The flaws are well made up for and are not a huge impact overall.  Ciao for now and see you for the next review!