Limitless Review

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Limitless has a pretty interesting plot and it solves several of the problems that modern movies tend to face. While this won’t exactly be an Oscar winning movie, it’s a pretty fun watch. I can’t really say that I was aware of this film before I saw it, but I don’t expect that I’ll be forgetting it anytime soon.

The film is about Eddie and how his life is not going so well. He’s back to being alone and his book isn’t going along so well. He has a serious case of writer’s block and he hasn’t even started yet! Obviously, this guy’s in trouble, but how will he overcome this? Someone that he vaguely knows ends up giving him a pill, which Eddie swallows. Suddenly, he’s a brand new person who lacks any sort of moral compass, but is also a lot smarter.

While his friend gets murdered and other thugs wish to destroy Eddie, Eddie must use his new abilities and do something cool with them. Will he use his powers for good or evil? That’s what you must ask yourself as Eddie takes to the streets. Of course, Eddie may not be the only one with this new drug. The drug essentially wakes up your brain so that you are able to access all of it. It has some deadly side effects, but Eddie feels that it may be worth it.

Eddie is definitely not a great character as power corrupts and he was never known as a man of great virtue. He mainly uses his abilities for his own personal gain and he also makes a lot of sloppy mistakes. How can someone be so smart and yet, not be smart at the same time? Eddie is constantly slipping up and he also ends up forgetting that he’s a pretty good fighter while he has the pill. He definitely could have used the pills to be a much better fighter and protect the world, but he’s no hero. Of course, you probably already figured that since he did resort to using drugs.

Aside from Eddie, we’ve also got Carl. Carl was the best character in the film and he’s good at blackmail. This guy knew the score right from the get go and he seems to be a very intimidating person. He’s pretty smart and he’s always getting Eddie into a tight spot. He’s a fun character and you’ll want to stick around for the ending and see him at work.

Linda is one of Eddie’s friends and I can’t say that she was a great character either. She has her own fight scene which was epic, but she ended up being friends with the wrong guy. Eddie is a bad influence and he ended up dragging her down with him to the pit of shame. That same pit is where the rest of the characters reside. The villains are generic thugs and they shouldn’t be taken too seriously. They really only get to do a lot of damage because Eddie ends up making some bad choices.

The soundtrack is really good and it shows that there is no excuse for a live action film to not have one. The main theme was epic and in the first minutes of the film, we’ve already got a really good piece of music going. The scenery is pretty fun too as the camera goes very fast in first person mode.

There are some scenes that may be a little hard to believe as well. One of them would be when a guy (Armed with a knife) charges into the park and murders some people as he chases Linda. It’s a pretty park and there seemed to be a lot of guys around, so why did nobody notice what was happening? It was a bit of a stretch for me, but it could have been worse. I also didn’t buy the fact that Eddie had another drug in his box at one point in the film. You wouldn’t miss something that obvious, especially with super brain power. I could mention the fact that the villains break into a fortified house that’s barricaded by steel, but maybe that’s pushing it.

With such a plot, there are bound to be inconsistencies so it could definitely be worse. The ending was pretty great and Eddie finally did something that I had been waiting for during the film. It only makes sense that he could pull off such a feat, so it was a question of when. The ending may also be ambiguous depending on how you look at it, but I like to think that he’s on the level this time. At any rate, we can only hope that he’s telling it like it is.

One of the negatives of the film is the large amounts of romance. Once Eddie unlocks his powers through the drugs, he starts to act like James Bond. It’s regrettable that the protagonists of many films turn out to be very corrupt and despicable people when they obtain power, but that’s the sad truth of Holywood. The scenes are all very wince worthy and you’ll need to try and skip them or maybe just take the time to go to the kitchen and warm up some mac and cheese.

Overall, this was a decently good film. The film had some negatives, but most films tend to have those. The film also had some decently good positives so it’s got a foot in both worlds. The music and plot were good, but the characters and romance dragged it down. Aside from a few scenes, the violence isn’t very bad either, but those few scenes can make or break a film right? This can be a fun film to watch, but if you want a true film about a guy who’s very smart, check out Bleach Memories of Nobody

Overall 5/10

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