Limitless
How can a movie this dull leave me with so very many questions even after I suspended my disbelief on so much. Fine movie, I will pretend Bradley Cooper is likeable. And I will not question the ridiculous phlebotinum pill or your bullshit pseudo-fact that people only use 20% of their brain (which the movie got wrong because the myth is 10%! God movie, you are really trying to be terrible).
But there are still so many other questions! Like how Bradley Cooper got his book contract? Has he written stuff for them prior to the movie (it’s doubtful since his past writing career is never mentioned, but how else did he get a fancy editor he doesn’t seem to like or use and a fancy book contract when he’s never written a word of his book)? And why do all writers look like they’re suffering from signing psychosis? Why does knowing how to do things (like fight) allow him to physically be able to do them? Why wasn’t making sure he had a steady income of his pills and finding out what they were made of and possible side effects the first thing he did? I don’t understand you movie!
But let’s take a moment to step back and examine our characters. We’ve got the main character Eddie Mora, a man dead set on proving that the only way to get ahead in the world is by taking lots of magic drugs and then everyone will love you. We have his girlfriend who is apparently very very stupid because she sees her boyfriend nearly fucking dying because he is addicted to these mystery pills and what does she do? She takes one and then uses a small child as a weapon. We’ve got the scary foreign drug dealer and the scary dude in a suit. Not a single one of them is likeable.
Moving on to the presentation of the film. There’s this idea that, when you’re watching a movie, you want to watch something happen rather than be told about something happening. Show; don’t tell. This movie completely ignores that. Voice-overs of shots where Eddie is supposedly winning everyone he comes into contact with over. I swear, there’s a shot where he’s arguing with some guy and there are all these people crowded around them and the guy he’s (probably supposed to be) arguing with is just nodding along, presumably thinking “Oh yeah, I AM a fucking moron for thinking that. Thank you so much for showing me what an idiot I am in front of all these people!”
Finally. My main grievance. Take the (amazing) BBC show Sherlock. Sherlock, much like Eddie, is very very smart and can remember a great deal of things. Sherlock, unlike Eddie, cannot remember everything. He is also hated by most everyone because he is a dick to most everyone. People don’t generally like to be shown that they are stupid. Very smart people will make everyone else feel stupid. Everyone loves Eddie. He is a Mary Sue. He’s shown to be damn near perfect, and it’s the people around him that screw up his life.
So remember: Don’t bother trying hard because there is a pill that can make you perfect and loved by everyone.
