Limitless

(directed by Neil Burger; starring Bradley Cooper as Eddie, Abbie Cornish and Robert de Niro) 

My little brother said it was the best movie he’s ever seen, second to IG. While I think it was a great movie, nowhere near my top five.

The movie was shot near perfectly, the fracture shooting in the opening sequel was brilliant and almost overshadowed the movie entirely. The various villains in the movie were hard to keep track of and I felt confused by the main (and I had hoped we see more of) villain who disappeared quickly without a trace until the end where they frantically tried to tie up the loose ends so they could move onto the bizarrely plotted climax.

I do have an issue with the film’s advertising as a thriller, because it really wasn’t for me. An action, or even a psychological action movie would have been better because if you are expecting to be on the edge of your seats, you have no chance.

The characters were well-casted, not least Robert De Niro who with limited screen-time still caught everyone in the theatre’s eye when he appeared. Abbie Cornish was forgettable as the new girlfriend and supposed true love, and was nowhere near as featured as was advertised. Cooper’s ex-wife, Anna Friel came on-screen and his character still seemed to love her more, despite the fact she looked like a hypothermia-struck pensioner.
The only comment I could make about Bradley’s performance is that thank god Shia leBoeuf dropped out because at least Cooper made his character believable.

Someone needs to quickly go find whoever constantly casts people with Eastern European accents in the villain roles because they really aren’t that intimidating.

The film does seems to appeal to all ages, - toddlers excluded - my 69-year-old grandma loved it, as did my 12-year-old little brother) but it didn’t really have the effect it felt like it wanted to, like it should’ve made me feel something that I didn’t. I feel like I’m critizicing it too much, because it was really an enjoyable film - just a little lackluster.