"You're only limited by your imagination, and the budget" - Movie Review - Limitless
As myriad hordes of my regular readers know well the ability of Mrs Stuffy to remain awake is a universal standard of "not a boring film" and you should all be aware that she remained alert throughout this movie, a tale of an apparent loser, a failing writer, a scruffy waster played by Bradley Cooper (who shone in The Hangover and was only one of the many,many,many things wrong with the A team).
This is an interesting movie which tells of his deliberate use of a consciousness-expanding drug to build the life he aspires to despite a series of obstacles, issues, challenges and threats. The intriguing thing for me was the lack of a moral sense to the movie, everything was dealt with at face-value, the protagonists dealing with the practical consequences of the drug and its effects and limitations with no-one in the film ever querying whether right or wrong. This, for me made it an unusual and fairly engaging movie.
Her exalted drowsiness, Mrs Stuffy however found the storyline confusing( although she was happy that it seemed to end positively) contrari-wise (a little nod there to a past master of hallucinoge
nic writing) I thought the ending ill-thought-through and unconvincing but enjoyed the plot twists and turns which led up to it.
I also enjoyed the effects of motion, colour and tone used to identify, flag and separate the various stages of the drug related experience, delivered by good direction, camerawork and effects. Of the cast, Abbie Cornish was there but might as well not have been, likewise Anna Friel, briefly on screen but added little value.
Robert de Niro appears and has received scant credit from less charitable reviewers for his performance but I have to say that it's all about context.
If you consider the de Niro of Stardust or the Focker series this was a towering tour de force from a powerful actor.
So, Limitless, worth a trip to the movies, probably, although we, for a number of logistical reasons saw a very poorly attended early-evening showing.
You know, I think I've just worked out why Mrs S stayed alert throughout.
There are no limits to my haiku-bility
No way ethical
Drug hypothetical, frees
him to get it all
posted by Stuffy @ 7:16 pm
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