The first time I watched this flick was at the movie-house.I actually stumbled upon it.I was with a girl, now my ex and we just decided to go and watch a flick and whatever.

The options were quite limited and it was either a mushy chick flick or in my opinion the movie with the better looking poster so naturally I vetoed the poll and we chose (I chose) the movie with the better poster

Going to the movies as a couple means you hardly pay any attention to most of whats going on on the screen but with ten minutes into the flick I released I had stumbled upon a gem and for 90% of that film I justly ignored most of her advances conversational or  otherwise..

Fast-forward to today and Limitless has climbed the pantheon where a few great flicks reside.In a league where the likes of American Gangster, The God Father, Scarface and a few other classics reside in my movie collection.

Maybe it’s the serendipitous way I discovered its existence that adds to its personal appeal to me but either way, I love this flick and the ideas it explores.

There is no doubt that Limitless is an entertaining movie and it gives you something to think about.

Starring Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro.The premise of the story is:

 ‘What would happen to a person who took a magic pill and suddenly became brilliant?’

Eddie Moura (Bradley Cooper) accepts a free pill from a distant acquaintance who promises it will help him access 100% of his brain instead of the usual 20%. The pill works quickly and gives him phenomenal & limitless brain power.

He decides he wants to use his brain in new and exciting ways. In dizzying succession he learns how to play the market, make some money, and position himself to make more. He finds new friends, and flies around the world to have dinner in any country he wants and learns to speak different languages. He buys a great car and dates the hottest women of his dreams. He’s charming and outgoing and well groomed. He’s everything he could never be when he was just a slacker.

“Limitless avoids delving into psychic powers or sudden connections to the universe, but rather treats this wonder drug like a magical filing system for every piece of information you’ve ever learned and everything you’ve casually noticed in your lifetime. All those History Channel docs, kung-fu films, half-interesting magazine articles and accidentally acknowledged college lectures you’ve ever absorbed, suddenly you can immediately bring them to the surface in relevant situations.”

Carl Van Loon (Robert DeNiro ) shows up as the big wig mercurial Wall Street guru at a big company that hires Eddie as a consultant to help him with an upcoming merger. It’s fun to watch Eddie outthink and outmaneuver his way to, if not the top, then a comfortable position where he can take care of himself and his girlfriend for the rest of his life.

I’ve added some of my favorite quotes and dialogues from this mind-blowing flick:


Eddie Morra: A tablet a day and I was Limitless… 
Eddie Morra: Well, in order for a career to evolve, I’m gonna have to move on.
Carl Van Loon: And you would even think that, would only show me how unprepared you are to be on your own. I mean you do know you’re a freak? 
Your deductive powers are a gift from God or chance or a straight shot of sperm or whatever or whoever wrote your life-script. A gift, not earned. 
You do not know what I know because you have not earned those powers. You’re careless with those powers, you flaunt them and you throw them around like a brat with his trust-fund. 
You haven’t had to climb up all the greasy little rungs. You haven’t been bored blind at the fundraisers. You haven’t done the time and that first marriage to the girl with the right father. 
You think you can leap over all in a single bound. You haven’t had to bribe or charm or threat your way to a seat at that table. 
You don’t know how to assess your competition because you haven’t competed. Don’t make me your competition..

Eddie Morra: There are no safeguards in human nature. We’re wired to overreach. Look at history, all the countries that have ever ruled the world – Portugal, with its big, massive navy… All they’ve got now are salt cods and cheap condoms. 
And Brits? Now they’re just sitting in their dank little island, fussing over their suits. 
No one’s stopping and thinking, ‘Hey, we’re doing pretty well. We got France, we got Poland, we got a big Swiss bank account… You know what? Let’s not invade Russia in the winter, let’s go home, let’s pop a beer and let’s live off the interest.’ 

The most important lesson to be gathered from this flick is that a high IQ doesn’t trump hard-won wisdom:

         Or as Carl Van Loon put it:

“Don’t make the classic smart person’s mistake of thinking no one’s smarter than you.”

While making money seems to be the only thing he wants to accomplish, the finale reveals he wants to use his powers of perception for good, instead of being just another smart guy who makes money off the backs of people who aren’t as quick.

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