After I watch movies, I turn to a YouTube and put on a channel dedicated to one guy walking the streets of Chicago.  Rain or shine, snow or heat, this person is out there filming.  I have it on in the background in order to give my eyes something to land on other than the screen whenever I am looking for inspiration.  Prayer does the trick, too, and we can never have enough of communication with God.  Please do not take the last two sentences as a hierarchical evaluation.  Either way, sometimes we all need a little extra boost, and God is always the best source.  Unfortunately, that is not how many in society think about this potential dilemma.  To that end, once I finished Limitless (2011) and turned on the aforementioned media platform, an add came up warning of the dangers of fentanyl.  You can point to the fact that the internet is always watching for why this would happen, and you will see this as I describe the movie.

The way you would describe the once struggling author Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) at the beginning of Limitless is suicidal.  How he comes to be standing at the edge of his luxury apartment balcony about to jump from several stories up is the subject of much of the rest that follows.  Months previously, he had been a writer with a book contract but not a word on paper.  He is dating Lindy (Abbie Cornish), who is far more successful than him at the moment, and is tired of picking up after him.  Thus, she breaks up with him, though he is at least honest about his current prospects.  He is a mess, his apartment is a mess, and he regularly drinks to excess instead of trying to power through writer’s block.  One day while coming out of a bar, he runs into Vernon Grant (Johnny Whitworth), his sister’s, Melissa Gant (Anna Friel), ex-husband.  Vernon appears to be doing better than Eddie remembers, and the one-time relation entices the writer with another cocktail.  During their conversation, the subject of Eddie’s project comes up, and Vernon offers a solution.  It is called NZT-48, and Vernon claims this supposedly newly Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pill will solve all Eddie’s problems.  Though Eddie is skeptical, he nevertheless ingests it on his way back to his apartment.  What follows is a tryst with his neighbor and a newfound motivation to get his life in order.  So powerful is the effect that he is calling Vernon for more once it begins to wear off.  Eddie finds Vernon in his apartment having been beat up, but willing to get extra doses, though some time is needed.  When the time comes to return to Vernon’s place, Eddie finds the dealer dead.  While waiting for the police, Eddie realizes that more NZT might be stashed somewhere, and his search turns up a horde.  After cooperating with the authorities, Eddie has everything he needs to make a meteoric rise in success and wealth.  His novel is completed within days, and he is learning things at a rapid rate.  Further, every bit of knowledge he has ever consumed is at his disposal, which aids in the enhancement of his intelligence.  Suddenly, he is moving in more august social circles, with invitations to far-flung beaches.  In the midst of his jet-setting, he thinks of a plan that will get him rich.  Using one of his recently made contacts, he starts stock trading, exponentially growing his money overnight.  However, it is never enough, and this is where the inevitable problems surface.  The first is needing the seed money to increase his investments.  Since the banks will not lend to him, he seeks out Gennady (Andrew Howard), a low-level Russian mobster.  The cash comes with the usual caveats, but Eddie proceeds anyway.  With apparently turning his life around, he rekindles his relationship with Lindy.  He certainly looks the part, which also catches the notice of business tycoon Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro).  Eddie is brought into Carl’s dealings ahead of a potential major merger, and everything the former has to say impresses the latter.  Yet, Eddie notices a strange person (Tomas Arana) watching his every move, increasing his paranoia.  Further, he is beginning to run out of NZT.  In going through contacts left by Vernon, Eddie discovers that the other users of the drug have either died or been hospitalized.  This includes Melissa, who warns her brother to get off NZT slowly.  The advice jives with the blackout periods he experiences.  Eddie is given few options, though, when Gennady shows up and demands money.  Instead, the thug ends up taking one of the pills.  As for his stash, it is at Lindy’s place, which she is then forced to retrieve.  Doing so puts her in danger from the man who had been following Eddie, who tries to murder Lindy.  The only way she survives is by taking a hit, but it disturbs her.  Once again, she leaves Eddie.  He, on the other hand, goes back to taking NZT, but in a more regimented fashion, also making sure to keep up with diet and exercise.  However, the merger he is working on with Carl is about to fall apart.  When the other side of the deal, Hank Atwood (Richard Benkins), is hospitalized due to poor health, Eddie realizes that the would-be partner is on the drug.  Further, his pill pouch has been stolen by Hank’s lawyer, Morris Brandt (Ned Eisenberg).  Before Eddie can do anything about this, Gannady and two henchmen show up at his new penthouse demanding more tablets.  This is where the film begins, but instead of jumping, Eddie bides his time before stabbing his attacker to death.  He also drinks blood in order to get some NZT into him.  With the rest eventually secured, he goes on to become a politician running for the United States Senate.  There is one last visit from Carl, who tries to blackmail Eddie into political favors, but the Congress hopeful says he is off the stuff before saying goodbye.

The person Eddie cannot say goodbye to in Limitless is Lindy.  After the final exchange between Carl and Eddie, the final scene is of Eddie sitting down for lunch with her, the two apparently a couple once more.  There is not a ton explained as to why this would happen, and it seems strange when you consider the last time they met, she leaves because she properly calls him out for being a drug addict.  This is a complicated issue from a Catholic perspective.  On the one hand, forgiveness is a bedrock of Christianity.  We would be nothing if God did not forgive us.  On the other hand, we need to be careful about who we allow into our lives.  There are some who can handle life with somebody hooked on illegal substances, and others for whom this is impossible.  You can count myself among the latter of those categories.  Anything is possible with God, including dealing with those situations, but it is up to us to discern with Him what is best for us.  We are not as the title suggests, only God is.  Any attempt to reach such goals is doomed to failure, which makes the film’s conclusion a little disappointing.  Instead of succumbing to the dangers of NZT, Eddie finds a way to manufacture out all the pitfalls.  Cinematically speaking, this might be acceptable if he were a more sympathetic character.  Any sympathy is greatly eroded when, at the climactic moment, he drinks Gennady’s blood.  That is gross and immoral, and it shows that he is willing to do anything to get ahead in life.  God asks us to be better, but not through the use of foreign substances.  We are as He made us, and we should be thankful for this fact.

The fact of the matter is that Limitless is a mediocre movie.  Had it been more of a cautionary tale, I might have enjoyed it more.  As it is, it only makes one feel like we can get to where we want to go in life by taking shortcuts.  That is not a message that I recommend to anyone.