LIMITLESS

US, 2011, 105 minutes, Colour.
Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish, Andrew Howard, Anna Friel, Johnny Whitworth, Robert John Burke.
Directed by Neil Burger.

The meaning of the title becomes apparent very quickly as the rather ordinary would-be writer, Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper), explains it as he contemplates suicide on the roof of a skyscraper. He wants to communicate how he got to that point and what drove him to it. We go to flashback and see him trying to get going on his book, relate to his reluctant girlfriend (Abbie Cornish), encountering the brother of his ex-wife. What happens is that he is persuaded to take a designer drug, NZT – and the rest of the film follows.

Limitlessness is what the drug offers Eddie. There is talk about our using only 20% of our brains. NZT activates the brain 100%. This is not just a high, it is a sky high where the sky is really a limit and Eddie can go further and further. He smartens up, finishes his book, finds that he is an instant expert on everything and is able to summon up all the memories of his past and connect them. What can hold him back?

That is not a question that he considers while his stash of the drug lasts (which he had purloined when his brother-in-law is killed – and he is a suspect). What does happen is that with his knowledge of the financial markets, his investments and his making millions, he comes to the attention of a millionaire businessman Carl van Loon (Robert de Niro) who uses him to vet the details of a takeover of a company from another instant self-made tycoon.

And reality steps in. The supply of NZT is coming to an end. Gangsters are after the stash and money and violence is no obstacle. Eddie is tricked by a crooked lawyer and everything begins to fall apart. His girlfriend tries to help... And Eddie is back on the roof ready to jump.

Actually, the whole film might be called ironic and immoral, amoral at best in its portrait of Eddie and the consequences of his NZT transformation. It is not a story of a man seeing the evil in his ways. Rather, the opposite. Eddie vanquishes all before him and enters the world of politics and not even the experienced pressures and influences of van Loon can provide barriers to his rise and rise. Ruthlessness triumphs. Which means that, at the end, we have to do more thinking about issues than we might have thought when we first saw Eddie on the roof. (And part of the thinking will be about the parallels – by means of modern fable – with bankers, financiers and politicians, and make us think suspiciously less of them.)

1. A story of reality and fantasy? Science and technology? Designer pharmacy? The workings of the human brain? Possibilities?

2. An American story, the fulfilling of the American dream, questionable means? Success? The cost, the consequences, competitiveness, survival?

3. An allegory of the American dream, ordinary people, means to an end, use of the means, addiction, success?

4. Eddie’s story, standing at the window, prepared to kill himself? The flashbacks and explanations? The return to this sequence? His age, experience, ordinary, his marriage, separation and ex-wife, the passing years? His relationship with Lindy? The tensions in the relationship? His inability to complete things? An author with writer’s block?

5. The sudden change, his brother-in-law’s arrival, the designer drug, the help, the information? The brother-in-law’s stash? His death? Police suspicions? Taking the drug, the effect, a hundred percent of the brain working, clarity, memories, connections, rapidity of drawing conclusions? Enhancing personality? Lindy and her concern and puzzle? Her own job, whether to stay with Eddie or not? Her promotions – the ups and downs of the relationship, her giving up, coming back to him, the dangers for her life?

6. Eddie’s knowledge, finishing the book rapidly, his memories, theories, finance, greed? Making profits? Change of lifestyle, clothes, apartment, friends? His reputation and the media?

7. His friend urging him to meet Carl Van Loon? The preparation for the meeting? Van Loon as shrewd, listening, testing Eddie? Advice, scenarios, in the car, Eddie reading them, in the car, taking them home, giving views? Van Loon impressed? Commissions?

8. The tablets, the supply, the gangster in the street and his attack? Taking the pill himself, wanting more? The entrepreneur and the deal with Van Loon, his wife, his sudden illness? Appearing out of nowhere? Taking the drugs? The lawyer, his getting the drugs for his client?

9. Eddie and the difficulties, down, ill, trying to cover, the disappointment of Van Loon? The dealer, getting some final tablets, recovery?

10. Lindy and her help, the drugs, in danger, the phone call, the pursuit by the gangster, taking the pill, knowing what to do, escaping?

11. The visit of the ex-wife, her story, her warnings?

12. The laboratory, the scientist making the drugs? Eddie finally commissioning him to make more?

13. The gangster coming to his apartment, thugs? The attack? The gangster’s death – and Eddie and the blood in order to give him the boost?

14. The suicide contemplation, his surviving – and moving to a new phase of his life?

15. The supply, going into politics, campaign? Van Loon’s arrival, taking over the pharmacy company, his threats, his hold over Eddie? Eddie turning the tables, controlling Van Loon?

16. Limitless abilities, power – and the consequences?