Limitless

Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish, Anna Friel, Johnny Whitworth, Robert John Burke, T.V. Carpio, Andrew Howard
Running Time: 105 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

For some reason, when Limitless was released into theaters I kept confusing it with The Adjustment Bureau. There's no logical explanation for this other than that they both came out around the same time and boasted high concept premises that could easily be botched. The latter turned out to be a really intelligent thriller that delivered on its promise, at least until its final few misguided minutes. Limitless isn't nearly as intelligent or serious-minded, and at many points it's spectacularly dumb, but boy is it fun. It's possible that some day a serious think piece will be crafted from a premise this though-provoking, but until then, we have Limitless and I can't say it doesn't at least scratch the surface of its potential. Entertainingly awful in the best way possible, it features a schizophrenic lead performance, an audio book's worth of voice-over narration, seizure-inducing visuals and enough wacky hair styles for its star to make Nic Cage jealous, but at some point I just gave up and went with it. After a really rough start, about halfway through the film wisely embraces its own silliness and becomes a wild ride.

Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is a struggling writer living New York City in danger of failing to meet the deadline for his latest novel which he hasn't even begun working on. Broke, living in a crappy apartment and recently dumped by longtime girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) he runs into ex-brother-in-law Vernon (Johnny Whitworth) who hooks him up with a new untested drug called NZT. The pill allows humans to access 100% of their brain power as opposed to the normal 20% and the results for Eddie are staggering and immediate. He not only finishes his novel, but uses his new mental prowess to conquer the stock market, attracting the attention of influential power broker Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro), who gets Eddie used to living in the fast lane for a change. Despite the drug having turned his life around, he must still contend with the deadly side effects of withdrawal, assassins closing in on his stash and a Russian mafia thug (Andrew Howard) he can't seem to shake. Eddie's a new man, but it comes at a high price.

The opening half hour of this film is so silly I was worried any chance at this story (based on Alan Glynn's 2001 novel, The Dark Fields)  even being reasonably satisfying was compromised right out of the gate, but its silliness ends up being an indispensable asset. Though it is unintentionally hilarious seeing Cooper as a struggling writer (looking more like a homeless hippie) and director Neil Burger's attempts to visually depict the results of the drug on Eddie's psyche via some crazy CGI and mind-numbing special effects is bizarre, once this thing gets going it doesn't stop. The real fun doesn't even necessarily begin when Eddie takes the pill, but rather when he gets off it and must deal with the withdrawal consequences The narrative doesn't exactly travel in the direction you think it will, but that's a relief. I half-expected a mysterious corporation (much like in The Adjustment Bureau) or some kind of pharmaceutical giant to be after him for the medication, culminating in a preachy life lesson on the evils of drug abuse and how we should accept ourselves for who we are. Delightfully though, director Neil Burger instead decides to just remake Crank, only replacing adrenaline with NZT. That approach shouldn't have worked but it does mainly because of Cooper's performance and Burger's commitment to just go all out with special effects, narration, camera angles, fast forwards and quick cuts that convey just how out there this whole thing is. That's a risky proposition but for a story this absurd it strangely seems to fit perfectly, making this feel like a superhero movie meets Wall Street, an ironic comparison considering Shia LeBouf was originally attached to star. We lucked out with Cooper.

If anything, this solidifies Cooper as capable of carrying a movie and likely on his way to becoming a huge star, even if the jury's still out on the full scope of his abilities as an actor. Here he's playing the kind of charismatic action star part Tom Cruise would have taken if this were made in the eighties or early nineties and he does just as efficient a job. If he strains credibility early on as a failed novelist it's of little consequence since he's a natural at playing a slick, cocky businessman and is borderline scary as an addict who desperately needs another fix. Sad as it may be, this is Robert De Niro's best supporting role in ages. Of course, the part's still a joke, but at least this time he seems in on it, squinting and grimacing as only De Niro can. He plays it completely straight, which makes some of the scenes and dialogue exchanges between he and Eddie (especially when he's off his meds) that much more ridiculous. Abbie Cornish's role as the girlfriend isn't as thankless as you'd imagine either, a credit to her and a script that actually gets her involved, culminating in one of the film's better action sequences at a skating rink.

They'll likely be tons of complaints that the film's true potential doesn't fully materialize on screen, and while I appreciate the point, this works well enough for what it is and poses some interesting questions to be pondered when the movie concludes, though not during it. But the biggest relief just may be its refusal to deliver a morality tale or some cliched message that "money doesn't equal happiness" or "power corrupts." Its goal is simply to entertain and if there's any lesson here you could argue it's the exact opposite. The film doesn't just bask in its own arrogant cynicism, but actively promotes it, at least earning points for its brutal honesty. It almost seems to imply we might need a pill like this or we're destined to be failures incapable of ascending to the great heights of Bradley Cooper, and then shames us into feeling guilty about it. That took guts. In pointing the finger at us and our materialistic obsessions, Limitless retains just the right amount of satirical darkness to counter-balance what's otherwise a far funnier, more enjoyable mainstream action movie than expected.

Stop-Loss

Director: Kimberly Peirce
Starring: Ryan Phillipe, Channing Tatum, Abbie Cornish, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Victor Rasuk, Ciarin Hinds, Timothy Olyphant
Running Time: 112 min.
Rating: R

**1/2 (out of ****)

Okay Hollywood, I get it. The war in Iraq is bad. Bad, bad, bad. Now can you please stop making these movies? Or at least just hold off on them for about 10 or 20 years when we’ve had time to let this conflict sink in. There were times I really liked and respected what Stop-Loss was attempting to do and wanted to recommend it.

Thanks to some outstanding performances and a focus on the more human aspect of the war it manages to partially avoid the pitfalls that other sunk preachy political films released recently. But unfortunately it becomes fairly transparent after a while that this just did a better job covering its agenda up. When the best cinematic effort addressing this subject still isn’t very good shouldn’t that be telling us this isn’t an issue studios should continue to explore right now?There’s a reason no one went to see this, not even the MTV audience it was marketed toward, yet Hollywood seems oblivious and continues to shove these politically charged dramas down our throats. I’ve yet to be convinced a good film can be made of this topic, at least not yet.

It’s been nine years since writer/director Kimberley Peirce’s breakthrough film Boys Don’t Cry and she should be congratulated for waiting to tackle a subject she felt passionate about for her sophomore effort (her younger brother served in Iraq). But she failed to make me feel as passionate about it and much of her script feels like it was written with an axe to grind and little else. As result, the talented actors have to do extra work to sell ham-fisted material and rescue Peirce from her liberal soapbox protesting. Surprisingly, they almost pull it off, and the only reason anyone should see this is for the performances.
Decorated war veteran Brandon King (Ryan Phillipe) and his childhood friends Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum) and Tommy Burgess (an underused Joseph Gordon-Levitt) return to their small Texas hometown after a tour of duty in Iraq and receive a hero’s welcome, parade and all. That celebration is short-lived, however, as Brandon finds out he’s been “Stop-Lossed,” a term Peirce holds a nice, long beat on to make sure we get the message. His discharge from the service has been waived and he’s ordered back over to Iraq. Justifiably Brandon is enraged and goes AWOL, taking Steve’s senselessly devoted girlfriend Michele (Abbie Cornish) with him on a road trip to Washington to state his case.

In one of the script’s more ridiculous and overtly political developments, Steve isn’t upset because Brandon and Michele ran off together but because he’s been brainwashed by the government into believing this war is right and wants to bring his friend home. I realize “brainwashed” is a strong term but that’s exactly how Peirce presents it, as if someone can’t think or form opinions for themselves after serving our country, which is almost insulting. With Brandon gone, Steve (who plans to re-enlist) can’t control the hot-tempered Tommy who’s descending into a bottomless pit of alcohol addiction and violence the second he returns home. Speaking of pits, Steve even digs himself one in the front yard because he still thinks he’s on the front lines. Subtlety isn’t Peirce’s strong point and these are caricatures that must rely only on these actors’ performances to bring them depth.
Aside from an electrifying and sometimes difficult to watch Iraq War opening, the part of this film that really clicks is the road trip with Brandon and Michele. It provides a nice break from Peirce’s patriotic proselytizing and shifts the focus to two people thrown together by a situation beyond their control. And sorry Reese, but Phillipe and Cornish do have legitimate heat onscreen together, made all the more impressive by the fact that Peirce (in a rare display of restraint) chooses not to go in that direction with their characters. Cornish surprised me here, conveying a tough vulnerability and a believable southern accent. It’s possible she could turn into an acting force down the line and not be eternally known for, you know, that other thing.

The pairing of Joseph Gordon-Levitt with a director of Peirce’s caliber should have much yielded much better results and it’s so silly the only reason it doesn’t is because he was given limited screen time. Not surprisingly, in the few scenes he is in he’s amazing and hints at a deeper anger and confusion in Tommy that's absent in Peirce’s script. I may be able to forgive her for going the way of Robert Redford, Paul Haggis and Gavin Hood before her with her flag waving fervor, but having probably the best young actor working today in your movie and pushing him off to the side is inexcusable.

Levitt was the one performer here who didn’t need even need a good script and Peirce still blew it. It almost felt like there was a nomination worthy performance that may have been left on the cutting room floor. Through no fault of his own his won’t be joining Brick and The Lookout in the JGL hall of fame, but it doesn’t really stop the winning streak either. I can’t blame him for taking the part and if anything it proves he’s still capable of shining in an underwritten, throwaway role.
Even in the film’s stronger moments, Peirce’s liberal agenda somehow seeps through. We see it in Timothy Olyphant’s Lieutenant Colonel unwisely played with as little compassion as his terrorist from Live Free or Die Hard. He’s just a puppet for George W. Bush. By now I’ve learned during these movies to look in the background on the wall and it’s inevitable I’ll see a picture of the grinning President. And sure enough, there it was. Even Brandon’s father (played by Ciaran Hinds) has to get a shot in as a dissenting voice. Out of no where he decides his son should report for this second unfair tour of duty for no other reason but for Peirce to pretend there’s a deep philosophical issue here.

Less would have been more and it’s a shame Peirce let her own passion get the better of her because the acting could have carried this through. There’s a scene with Victor Rasuk as an injured veteran that’s more powerful and moving than anything else in the picture because it seems to come from a true place and feels real. Then there’s an ending to the film that feels completely fake, like Peirce was trying to get her last licks in. She even flashes statistics about the Iraq War on screen undercutting her own efforts and message, making the whole picture feel more like a public service announcement.

In the middle of a fun summer movie season the last thing I want to do is take a trip in a time machine back to 2007, the year this film feels stuck in even though it was only released a few months ago. I think we should propose a new rule: The Iraq War and its ramifications should be off limits to any filmmaker unless they happen to be named Richard Kelly. I'm just crossing my fingers that when Bush leaves office Hollywood's desire to put out these politically tinged films will lessen considerably. If this, Rendition, Lions For Lambs, In The Valley of Elah didn’t convince Bush to send the troops home, nothing will. The best compliment I can give Stop-Loss is that of all these efforts, it’s at least the most noble.