Assessing a sci-fi thriller with a premise as outlandish as that of “Limitless” is a tricky business. It’s especially tricky when the flick in question is so damn much fun that to convey its worth in order to rise it above secondary status one needs to ignore plotholes large enough to drive a truck through.
Ignore them.
When a guy can pop a pill (here the fictitious NZT) that will morph him from a slacker depressive into an uber-intelligent, extrasensory superman who can do nearly everything, logic’s going to take a backseat somewhere along the line. Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro and Abby Cornish play our lovable main character, his heavy-duty tycoon challenger, and his cautious girlfriend turned moll. DeNiro’s actually acting (superbly) again, and Cooper handles the”dual role” deftly.
Throw in a Russian villain (Andre Howard) who’s so crazy he’s funny, and enough filmed-in-Philadelphia stuff to keep us guessing. The film’s payoff is you never know what’s coming next as Cooper learns whole disciplines and languages overnight, finishes writing a novel in a few days, seduces women effortlessly, gets his once-fed up girlfriend back, makes millions on the stock market, and, oh yes–gets involved with mean dudes who also want the rare supply of the wonder drug, and others (DeNiro) who want his extraordinary skills to manipulate a Wall Street merger. Hijinks insue. Some are silly, others highly suspenseful. Director Neil Burger’s no slouch. His The Illusionist with Edward Norton was top-shelf enough you should stream it today if you haven’t seen it. Here he throws a few Danny Boyle visual moves our way with a sleek, rollicking ride that turns enough hairpin curves to thrill us into the realization we’ve just had one of the finest fastfood film experiences in some time.
8 Plot holes out of 10
