The wife and I decided on a night out, and thankfully I have the kind of wife that almost always lets me pick the movie at the theatre. I have the foresight to send her often to the theatre with her ladies to watch the "girlie pictures." So it was that I got to see LIMITLESS instead of an estrogen filled poo-fest.
Bradley Cooper is turning out to be quite the ticket-seller. At age 36, he seems to quickly becoming Hollywood's golden boy. Big screen movies he has been in just passed the $1 Billion dollar mark. Much of this credit goes to 2005's Wedding Crashers at $209 Million, and 2009's The Hangover at $277 Million. Even mixing in a few small budget independent films that produced little revenue, movies Bradley has acted in have averaged $87 Million at the theaters. These are impressive numbers, for a guy only 9 years after his big screen debut.
Overall, I really enjoyed LIMITLESS. I went in not knowing what to expect. I intentionally avoided previews, as I believe they tend to show entirely too much of the plot-line nowadays. If there is a movie I do not want to see, I watch the extended trailer, and I feel as if I've read the cliff's notes. I know the major characters. I can guess the twist. This has nothing to do with my over the top brilliance, but much more to do with the classic movie formula that most of Hollywood is currently subscribing to. (This subject is for a different post altogether, I know) This movie kept me guessing.
*** SPOILER FREE, No worries ***
Cooper plays Eddie Morra, a broke, unkempt, uninspired writer who is on the brink of losing his girlfriend and writing contract. He has gotten nothing accomplished since finishing college. He runs into an old "buddy"/dealer, Vernon. (Johnny Whitworth) Vernon gives an introductory tablet of NZT, a new drug that can open up his mind. This is our launching point.
Mixed feelings fill my head about the supporting cast. Robert De Niro plays Carl Van Loon, an investment tycoon/nemesis for Eddie Morra. I was not overly-impressed with De Niro. I'm afraid in preparation for this film, he simply watched Wall Street, and decided to do a Gordon Gekko impersonation. Most of the time, I felt like Bobby De Niro was simply pretending to be himself. I wouldn't have thought twice if he had looked at Cooper's character and said, "You talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?!?" I'm afraid that De Niro has become like so many other actors in their twilight and simply reprise their old roles from their youth but in the mold of an old man. (i.e. Al Pacino, Morgan Freeman, Nic Cage, Robin Williams, to name a few...) I was also disappointed in Abbie Cornish. I felt like she was blasé and disconnected from the movie. Maybe that was the intent. I dunno.
Andrew Howard played a Russian mafia thug named Gennady. His character was enjoyable. Many might say he was cliche and could have easily have been pulled from any various 24 or Law & Order episode, but I liked him. His transformation was fun to watch. And in many ways, he was a more impressive villain than De Niro.
There were some loopholes that I won't uncover, except to say that they [the writers/producers] didn't tie all the way together. Considering myself smarter than the average movie-goer, I do like to piece things together myself, with the clues scattered out before me. I don't like to be spoon-fed. However, certain scenes of this movie were laid out as mystery in front of the audience as if they were crucial to the plot-line, then completely ignored. For example...
*** SPOILER ALERT ***
1. The murder in the hotel that Cooper doesn't know if he committed. Never explained.
2. The character, "Man in Tan Coat", played by Tomas Arana. Way to back and forth. He is always chasing and shooting at people. Then his instant turn. Stupid and improbable.
It is always a joy to get a few minutes with the bad guy from The Bodyguard though, so there 's that.
3. This is fiction, and borderline sci-fi, so it may be stupid to nit-pick, but the whole ice-skating self-defense scene. Uber-crap. I smarted off loudly at this point.
4. The Team Edward moment where blood is slurped. Wow. No comment.
Honestly, I wouldn't punch anybody in the face for giving it higher marks than me. Keep in mind, there were some gaping holes and ludicrous moments in there. I cannot forgive those moments. But, all in all, I enjoyed it. I loved the ending. The writing was the saving factor. The dialogue was strong and the interactions between anybody and Bradley Cooper while he was using NZT were very well done.
Factoring in the flaws, I still give LIMITLESS a B+.
Overall, I really enjoyed LIMITLESS. I went in not knowing what to expect. I intentionally avoided previews, as I believe they tend to show entirely too much of the plot-line nowadays. If there is a movie I do not want to see, I watch the extended trailer, and I feel as if I've read the cliff's notes. I know the major characters. I can guess the twist. This has nothing to do with my over the top brilliance, but much more to do with the classic movie formula that most of Hollywood is currently subscribing to. (This subject is for a different post altogether, I know) This movie kept me guessing.
*** SPOILER FREE, No worries ***
Cooper plays Eddie Morra, a broke, unkempt, uninspired writer who is on the brink of losing his girlfriend and writing contract. He has gotten nothing accomplished since finishing college. He runs into an old "buddy"/dealer, Vernon. (Johnny Whitworth) Vernon gives an introductory tablet of NZT, a new drug that can open up his mind. This is our launching point.
Mixed feelings fill my head about the supporting cast. Robert De Niro plays Carl Van Loon, an investment tycoon/nemesis for Eddie Morra. I was not overly-impressed with De Niro. I'm afraid in preparation for this film, he simply watched Wall Street, and decided to do a Gordon Gekko impersonation. Most of the time, I felt like Bobby De Niro was simply pretending to be himself. I wouldn't have thought twice if he had looked at Cooper's character and said, "You talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?!?" I'm afraid that De Niro has become like so many other actors in their twilight and simply reprise their old roles from their youth but in the mold of an old man. (i.e. Al Pacino, Morgan Freeman, Nic Cage, Robin Williams, to name a few...) I was also disappointed in Abbie Cornish. I felt like she was blasé and disconnected from the movie. Maybe that was the intent. I dunno.
Andrew Howard played a Russian mafia thug named Gennady. His character was enjoyable. Many might say he was cliche and could have easily have been pulled from any various 24 or Law & Order episode, but I liked him. His transformation was fun to watch. And in many ways, he was a more impressive villain than De Niro.
There were some loopholes that I won't uncover, except to say that they [the writers/producers] didn't tie all the way together. Considering myself smarter than the average movie-goer, I do like to piece things together myself, with the clues scattered out before me. I don't like to be spoon-fed. However, certain scenes of this movie were laid out as mystery in front of the audience as if they were crucial to the plot-line, then completely ignored. For example...
*** SPOILER ALERT ***
1. The murder in the hotel that Cooper doesn't know if he committed. Never explained.
2. The character, "Man in Tan Coat", played by Tomas Arana. Way to back and forth. He is always chasing and shooting at people. Then his instant turn. Stupid and improbable.
It is always a joy to get a few minutes with the bad guy from The Bodyguard though, so there 's that.
3. This is fiction, and borderline sci-fi, so it may be stupid to nit-pick, but the whole ice-skating self-defense scene. Uber-crap. I smarted off loudly at this point.
4. The Team Edward moment where blood is slurped. Wow. No comment.
Honestly, I wouldn't punch anybody in the face for giving it higher marks than me. Keep in mind, there were some gaping holes and ludicrous moments in there. I cannot forgive those moments. But, all in all, I enjoyed it. I loved the ending. The writing was the saving factor. The dialogue was strong and the interactions between anybody and Bradley Cooper while he was using NZT were very well done.
Factoring in the flaws, I still give LIMITLESS a B+.
I'm gonna use this comment section to comment on a few other things. Were I writing a full review, I would have covered a lot of the same things as my cohort. So instead I'll simply take the chance to piggy back on his review, and bring out a couple of additional thoughts, as will he on mine.
ReplyDeleteSo to the point.
The great irony here is that, as Tallb pointed out, there are so many reasons not to like this film. He named 4 biggies. A couple more:
(MINOR Spoiler Alert)
1. I get the whole idea that it's just his "look" and all, but it bothers me that, more than anyone in Hollywood, Bradley Cooper has a perpetual 5 o'clock shadow. whether waking up in loser mode (which I'll comment on momentarily) or running for senate, the stubble is ALWAYS there.
2. I'm probably in the minority with this one, but the wig he wears in the aforementioned senate race scene was atrocious. Looked like a rushed SNL sketch.
But despite its unplugged plot holes and gaping leaps of logic. I literally couldn't keep from loving this movie. At times I thought the conversations were heading down the same road as a circa 1985 ABC After School Special or the episode of Saved by the Bell where Jessie takes drugs, but the awesome thing is that I just didn't care. Cooper is a guy you want to see win. His narration was just enough, and I've got to say, he plays loser better than he plays winner, which is saying a lot. He's the new Vince Vaughn, with his quick wit and resistance-is-futile charm. But he showed his acting chops in the drugless scenes like we've never seen before. I was disarmed by how well he played witless and charmless.
The visuals were mesmerizing. I'm admittedly a sucker for some great F/X. The recurring shots of manic zooms from scene to scene were the best depiction of that "How did I get here?" feeling that I believe I've ever seen. The color and focus changes were perfect illustrations of the effects of the NZT, or lack thereof. There was more of this, in more subtle forms, than I think most would notice.
I think what I loved most about Limitless was its utter disregard for the "high road". In different hands, this would have been a safe little moral allegory about how none of what he had was real, with the audience dooped into wanting him to lose it all in order to redeem himself. But the fact his you can't help but like BC, and you genuinely want him to win. The dialogue is fast paced enough to keep you smiling, but not so much that you roll your eyes. Most importantly, it completely satisfies the inevitable "what would I do with this power?" trains of thought that pop up in all of us.
Bottom line: Any movie that's slick enough to get me to ignore that many flaws deserves at least an A-.
--Cochese