postheadericon Limitless


 The Social Network and Limitless have taught me quite a few things about intelligent people: they like wearing collared shirts, they talk too quickly, and they are irresistible to women when they are successful and hopeless losers when they are not. Also they like talking about algorithms.


The premise of the movie is thoughtfully outlined in the movie poster. The main character - whose name I have immediately forgotten - takes a CLEAR PILL which allows him to UNLOCK [HIS] POTENTIAL. How it does that is sort of a mystery. Someone mutters something about using 100% of one's brain but they really don't get specific. Sometimes it lets him remember things, sometimes it lets him learn new things, sometimes it lets him cure cancer (no seriously). 

But what will he do with his new-found intelligence? Will he discover that people he once knew have grown to resent him for his abilities (c.f. Charly in Flowers for Algernon)? Or will his vast brainpower cause him to become disinterested with the trials and tribulations of mere mortals (c.f. Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen)?

Well actually neither. He just cleans his apartment - intelligent people also suffer from mania; has sex with women - who are apparently extremely turned on if you can speak their native language; talks verbosely and incessantly at parties - which people seem to like; and becomes a stock trader - which I'm pretty sure you need some sort of certification for. They also shoot all the POV scenes when he's smart with a fisheye lens for reasons that I cannot understand. But I only use 20% of my brain, so what do I know?

Do I even need to outline the plot? You've heard this one before. Career loser acquires MacGuffin that makes him more successful and sexually attractive. Ill-willed individuals want to acquire MacGuffin for their own purposes. Man must defend himself from said individuals, but also decide whether the MacGuffin itself is the greatest threat. So it's basically The Mask: Pharmaceutical Edition. 

There are a couple of scenes which I should probably mention. The opening sequence where the camera quantum leaps around New York is pretty cool. There's also this fight scene where the main character becomes smarter after drinking the blood of someone who was on the drug, which makes as much sense as someone getting drunk from licking the floor after a bar fight. But my favourite was the final scene. In a truly genre-deconstructing twist ending, the main character, now burnt out from drug use, is shown slumped over in a vegetative state of mental retardation. 

Oh wait, that was just me.

3 comments:

SS said...

Hahahahaha
Love it

Finesse Dangerstorm said...

I actually laughed out loud at seven points in this review. This sounds like a horrible movie.

OM said...

Seven times?! But there are only seven paragraphs!