Limitless (2011)

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A struggling novelist acquires a top-secret drug which gives him superhuman abilities.

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Directed By: Neil Burger

Written By: Leslie Dixon, Alan Glynn

Starring: Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Abbie Cornish, Andrew Howard, Tomas Arana, Robert John Burke, Patricia Kalember, Johnny Whitworth, Ned Eisenberg, T.V. Carpio, Darren Goldstein

Genres: Sci-fi, Suspense/Thriller, Action, Mystery

Country: USA

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Limitless belongs to 30 collections

1. Based on a Book (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 24 stars)

2. Drugs (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 16 stars)

3. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 12 stars)

4. Writers and writing (collaborative: moderated by djross - 11 stars)

5. Business, Finance and Economics (collaborative: moderated by djross - 11 stars)

6. #1 at the US Box Office (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 10 stars)

7. Based On Novel (collaborative: moderated by tathiel - 7 stars)

8. High IQ (collaborative: moderated by djross - 5 stars)

9. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 5 stars)

10. Movie Night (public: cesargm - 3 stars)

11. Top 1000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 3 stars)

12. Inspired Tv Series (collaborative: moderated by Hailey - 2 stars)

13. The Flop House Podcast (collaborative: moderated by mucow - 2 stars)

14. Cinema Sins (collaborative: moderated by Phantom Nook - 2 stars)

15. Netflix Watch Instantly (public: dgeiser13 - 2 stars)

16. Top 2000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 2 stars)

17. Tom & Bitches' Infinite Watchlist (collaborative - 1 star)

18. Netflix instant LATAM (collaborative: moderated by Roman_Herbom - 1 star)

19. Netflix Sverige (collaborative: moderated by Jakobostgren - 1 star)

20. Masoud Archive (public: Masoud569 - 1 star)

21. Cult classic SF for my wife (public: Temptershell - 1 star)

22. Movies with untapped potential (collaborative: moderated by mwgerb)

23. SPIRITUAL Growth Movies (little violence) (collaborative: moderated by DONLEONE)

24. Watched in 2012 (public: dgeiser13)

25. 2011: Year in Review (public: polanski28)

26. Remembered Films (public: JanaMarie)

27. My Movie Collection (public: elhenzo)

28. Seen, Not Rated (public: SageSledge)

29. seen in 2020 (public: sproost)

30. C-Snacks (public: cantahta)

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All Ratings | With Reviews

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TCI | Percentile | Date Rated | # Stars (Reviews)

Stars	User	Rating
9	KMcNeil	3 _24th
"Look at me! I got a haircut. Now I can screw hot chicks and make megabucks trading stocks!" Uhm. "Limitless" sure would've benefited from someone limiting the storyline. It goes here, there and everywhere - essentially going nowhere. The concept is great, but a bland romance ("uh, now you're using your ENTIRE BRAIN - let's get back together!"), endless subplots, weak villains and a horrible script featuring dialogue of absurd banality ensures that it outstays its welcome within the first hour.
7	mwgerb	43 _32nd
I actually thought this had a lot of potential based on the premise and the flashy camerawork at the beginning. And it was a fun ride for most of it, as Eddie gains success while sealing his inevitable downfall. But then a couple grotesque / contrived scenes ruined the tension and gave the audience the mandatory happy ending to a character that probably didn't deserve one.
4	Kojiless	64 _68th
Written by a screenwriter and directed by a director, Limitless is a movie starring actors about a story. After a single viewing of the aforementioned film, I have determined it deserves a score; therefore, a score it has been given.
4	begoniabol	31 _33rd
Starts off ok (and with ok I don't mean it's necessarily good) and then after 30 minutes or so it becomes a huge mess. The makers probably thought that, if you include these things (hot sexeh guy, sexeh gurls, sexy scenes, exotic location, money, a well known 'badass' actor, 'neverbeendonebefore editing' and re-using the 'neverdonebefore editing', useless chase scene, difficult words, shooting, cars etc) the film will be a success. They're wrong. Gotta admit though, Cooper's dead sexy
3	Filligan	66 _16th
I found the premise of this film to be a real iffy one. The filmmakers would have to walk a very fine line to keep it from being insultingly moronic. Impressively enough, I left Limitless unsure whether it was great or mediocre. That and a fresh approach that feels like they at least really tried earned it some brownie points, but too many times I found myself shaking my head at the screen. Slick and snazzy fun for sure, but drinking blood and using a child with ice-skates as a weapon? No. No.
3	CatScandal	34 _28th
it's stupid and overproduced, but not without a sense of fun. the more you think about it, the worse it gets, but at least it's not boring
3	Pickpocket	1 _12th
Lazy writing, by the first voiceover you already know that it's going to suck. "this is me, i'm a loser, look at my hair lol." They basically just made a movie about adderall and failed miserably. It's just so boring but yet they try to keep you interested with quick cuts and pointless subplots that ultimately go nowhere. Who could've predicted that De Niro would eventually become film cancer? Guy is a joke in this.
3	angrypierre	60 _30th
A smug git nearly chokes to death on his own smoke gittiness, but in the end he's so fucking smug that even that can't kill him. Some nice visual effects that show how being really clever means you have completely disorientating visual and auditory hallucinations that would make you fall over and puke in any other circumstances.
3	Luna6ix	77 _61st
the first half plays out almost as good as one could possibly expect, the second half is still watchable, but it really detracts from the overall experience. it's a unique idea and a fairly decent movie that just doesn't have that much of a lasting affect.
3	omgfridge	2 _19th
Fairly bland and was noticeably uninspired pretty much everywhere.
3	CMonster	59 _35th
Anybody else remember that episode of Its Always Sunny when the gang thinks they do an amazing choreographed dance at their high school reunion but in reality they are just making themselves look like assholes? I feel like that's Bradley Cooper in this movie without the reveal at the end. Fun watch though.
2	djross	55 _53rd
Far-fetched? If twenty years ago you had suggested to me the possibility of something like Sildenafil, or even Minoxidil, I probably would have been skeptical, so what do I know? The film is light-hearted fun: the ethical unconcern of the protagonist and notably non-moralistic conclusion may well have bothered some audiences, but to this viewer these characteristics seemed to signal a willingness to avoid pandering to conventional expectations, and were thus greeted with welcome surprise.
2	CitizenX	60 _63rd
i want that drug :D shouldnt have had a happy ending
2	KasperL	40 _20th
Cooper is likeable and it's no fault of his that the movie fails. There are two main flaws: 1) the script is, apart from the potentially fascinating premise, weak - one of many problems being very little conflict and 2) Burger's film is not nearly as cool nor as smart as he seems to think it is. It's one of those films that keeps your attention while watching it, only to disintegrate shortly afterwards. What lingers is the stupidity (child blades-"plan", the story's frame). A wasted opportunity.
2	Stradivarius	55 _19th
For a film about a smart guy, he sure does a lot of stupid stuff. Nothing about the script implies any intelligence or thought went into the conception of the plot.
2	nauru	10 _6th
Absolutely atrocious writing. The idea that the smartest person in the world would be motivated primarily by money is a stretch in itself. But even if we believe this the film shows he could earn several billion dollars within weeks trading for himself, yet quits to apply for a job in private equity or investment banking that pays a tiny fraction of what he was on track to make as a trader in a much shorter time. Asinine like the rest of the film.
2	Okkervil	16 _12th
Bradley Cooper jumps off a cliff & has an idea, but we never really learn what that idea is? But it involves playing the stock market with a formula based on rumours, that works by... well we're not told that either! I initially gave this a 35, as a very bland, but easy watch. But the more I thought about this movie, the more I was struck by what a lazy piece of filmmaking it is. The concept has so much potential, but Burger boils it down to idiotic standards. The script is fucking awful too!
2	hellboy76	60 _26th
I like the idea of it better than the execution. Kudos to the first thing he does after now using 100% of his brain is fuck some guys wife. Well played super genius.
2	Superargo	53 _34th
The best part is the bit with TV Carpio in the apartment hallway, where Cooper's out of his mind on his new drug and talks to her so furiously and earnestly that he ends up seducing her. I wanted more of that. What happens instead simply isn't interesting. He's been given a pill that gives him all this brain power, and he uses it to insert himself into the middle of a boring, vaguely defined Wall Street merger? Big whoop, dude. How did a movie with a premise like this end up so bland?
2	random_donna	5 _5th
Early on, Bradley Cooper as the loser is good, I'll say that. But once his character got the brain pill, this movie made me angrier and angrier. So he's a super-genius, but all he can think to do is to get rich and get laid? How about doing good with his new brain power? Help people? Solve world problems? Nope. And it's not just Cooper. It doesn't seem to occur to ANY of these geniuses to do anything remotely unselfish. This film is utterly materialistic. No moral dimension whatever.
1	schnofel	42 _27th
A pointless celebration of ruthlessness. Drugs you into submission to the plastic people.
1	Carpetgiant	84 _59th
NZT48, the designer pharmaceutical drug featured in "Limitless", is supposedly able to increase a person's brain usage to one hundred percent. However, I'm not sure this is accurate since we never see the protagonist control time, matter or people. At one hundred percent usage, he should have been capable of doing these things. I know this for a fact because Morgan Freeman told me about it in a trailer for another movie.
1	mikeparasol	68 _35th
So he can basically do anything and he wants to be an investment banker?
1	martryn	79 _74th
I sometimes think about what I would wish for if I had 3 wishes. I wouldn't want anything too flashy or fantastical as I wouldn't want to draw attention to myself in that way. This movie introduced me to the first decent portrayal of how an enhanced intelligence might work in a believable, non-cartoonish way. And that would be one of my wishes, for sure. Film itself isn't that great on it's own merit, but it has enough of the pieces in the right place to make it memorably good.
1	Mini-T	86 _73rd
Don't do drugs kids, It makes you drink dead people's blood.
1	Wiche	74 _68th
Quite decent scifi. After watching it, I can't get rid of the idea the writers could have done so much more with this idea. The movie starts interesting, even mysterious, with some good camerawork and some nice usage of colours to support every feeling in this film, but then again.. The pace was too slow and the movie got stuck in the same unending spiral the viewer (and main character) kept going through. Liked Cooper and De Niro though.
1	babamots	15 _2nd
Apparently no pill can give you common sense.
1	Vandelay1	42 _40th
watchable
1	TheRealJ-Ro	70 _42nd
Y'know, I like Bradley Cooper, I'll give pretty much anything he's in at least a pass. And that's what this one gets, it gets a pass and a little better. It explores a cool idea (the idea that we can only access/employ a certain percentage of our brains), but only on the surface. Doesn't go into huge depths. I think it's worth seeing, if for nothing else, to take every opportunity to watch Robert de Niro on screen. It doesn't matter what he's in or is doing. It's Robert de Niro. Go see it. Now.
1	tef	85 _75th
The pseudoscience is particularly dumb but this was surprisingly good. The reason I like the film is that self-destruction didn't result from seemingly self-destructive means. Doesn't make sense, and neither does the idea that euphoria and a greater mental aptitude would result in a healthier, more functional person...but whatever.
1	canadianor	60 _35th
The problem with writing a character that is smart beyond belief is that the writer would need to write a screenplay to match that intellect. Instead, with its first-person voice-over that drops in and out and predictable twists, 'Limitless' feels amateur. One-dimensional characters appear and disappear without real effect. The voice-over is irritatingly bad and unnecessary. The ending throws in one more twist that is so useless, it leaves you sour. 'Limitless' has complete lack of consequence.
1	Kusanagi	75 _48th
A movie with a great premise and some trippy music video like visuals that fails keep your attention and wrap everything up nicely. DeNiro's role is totally wasted, and one can't help but feel that the ending was really rushed.
1	gabebernal	68 _30th
limitless is limited, could have been so much more interesting... a forgettable film
1	ohwell	52 _36th
What do we learn? Nothing. No- wait: Drugs are cool when you use them correctly. And one day you don't need them anymore because you developed an own, unexplained way to reproduce the effect of the drugs with your body without taking them.
1	SirStuckey	70 _56th
Pretty entertaining film. It takes a good idea and runs with it, using some fancy camera-tricks and a good effort by Bradley Cooper. It perhaps is a bit too ambitious in some areas, but that's at least a miscalculation in film making I can forgive. The ending sells out a bit and there is a somewhat forced romance subplot, but it's Hollywood and those aren't exactly a surprise. Worth a watch.
1	Judge Holden	3 _32nd
As in there's no limit to how retarded this gets. A completely braindead sci-fi thriller. It will induce headaches in anyone giving its silly story half a thought and migraines in anyone attempting to wrestle any enjoyment out of doing so.
1	d_realword	60 _47th
good idea but so many holes and in the end...the main character didnt seem to learn his lesson and is actually an asshole.
1	kgbelliveau	70 _26th
Limitless is nothing more then what is shown in the trailer. It is about Eddie Morra who gets his hands on a drug that allows him to access his entire brain and become whatever he wants to be. Cooper does a fine job in the lead role, but Limitless does not stray from the path that we could easily predict it going on. It is too simple at times, but it is still good for what it is. It is a hard film to review because it is too simple, but yet it is still good.
1	Roberta	60 _5th
Disappointing. The premise is wonderful but the script doesn't develop it satisfactorily. What is De Niro doing there? His character could be much more memorable.
1	DaWolfey	45 _66th
Enjoyable if you don't think about it too hard. The blood drinking scene had me roaring with laughter at how comical it looked The suspense that is built up and knocked down in the last 5 minutes just suggests that the writer had no idea what to do with his story so he just knocked up something quick on the bus to the studio.
1	burkayadalig	73 _47th
not very good but watchable... interesting plot with lots of holes... some interesting scenes and shots to depict that the main character is high on NZT, gives a Chuck Palahniuk kinda feeling...
1	Matthew Parkinson (CineMarter)	50 _47th
Limitless is fun for a while, but ultimately wears thin while trying to do too much, yet never saying anything about its primary gimmick, drugs. It doesn't take a firm stance on anything that it contains. Its characters aren't well developed, with both De Niro and Cornish having little to do with their far-too-small roles, although I didn't mind Bradley Cooper providing us with narration. It's somewhat enjoyable, but it needed something more to make it absolutely worthwhile.
1	SlantMag	10 _9th
"Even Bradley Cooper lapping thirstily at a pool of blood can't save a dumbass sci-fi fable on the perils of increased mental capacity." - Bill Weber
1	Elysian Air	16 _3rd
For all the potential that was available to the basic concept, which wasn't very unique to begin with, it was pathetically wasted at every single possible moment. Even if we disregard the offensively clichéd set-up, the scientifically illiterate script, the blatantly predictable plot, and the weakly written characters, there's still practically no redeeming values to speak of. Is there a pill that will make me forget I saw this? Cyanide, perhaps?
1	guyeverton	69 _25th
This film could have been truly awesome but the end was weak. I was convinced that, when DeNiro appears towards the end, there was going to be some epic twist of Long Good Friday/ Layer Cake proportions. There should have been. But instead it was all too easy. Man gets magic pill, wins at life. End. Why bother with the murder side story if you don't conclude it? Why spend the entire middle section of the film worrying about side effects and then ignore them at the end?
1	boyakasha	60 _38th
Flashy, but disgustingly shallow story about an equally shallow guy who gets hold of a magic pill that changes his life. It looks and sounds pretty impressive, but the message is a celebration to all things shallow and material and the ending only emphasizes that even more. Like American Psycho without any humor. But at least I didn't have to see Shia Labeouf doing his character again (because he has only one).
1	guy piranha	45 _17th
NZT48, aka the "douche pill", finally makes useless self-loathing losers (e.g. writers) into the greatest people to walk this planet! This movie actually asks you to believe that people need to be really smart to be stock traders, managers or politicians.
1	jennyfish	81 _59th
My expectations for this film were pretty high and sadly it didn't live up to them. It was a good storyline and a great idea but it just didn't work for me. I didn't like the ending at all. (The alternative ending in the extras on the DVD wasn't bad.)
1	Trout	2 _10th
An interesting premise ruined by an unlikable douche of a protagonist and an ending that undermines the whole moral of the story, if there ever was such a thing.
1	zoink	97 _99th
I love this movie. It's one where it get's such a high score because I find it to be so fun. It's a movie that everyone I have ever had watch, at the very least, enjoyed. Any film I can pull up for a group and everyone enjoys it no matter what their taste is a wonder find.

Average Percentile 47.24% from 6619 Ratings