Limitless (2011) Vs Lucy (2014)

Sometimes, films sit in my ‘to watch’ list for so long, I forget how they ended up there in the first place. That was the case with Limitless, that I decided to finally watch on New Year’s Day. I didn’t even know what it was about! It was enjoyable, anyway, and it made me think of Lucy, which I hadn’t bothered watching after so many bad reviews. What I thought would be interesting was to watch both and compare them, as they kind of tell the same story after all.

In Limitless, Eddie (Bradley Cooper) is a down on his luck writer, recently dumped by his girlfriend, who is introduced to the drug known as NZT by a friend. The pill boosts his brain’s abilities exponentially and Eddie rapidly rises from a nobody to being highly successful and rich. The horrible side effects of NZT mean that Eddie can’t stop taking it, and his supply is dwindling.

Although I enjoyed Limitless and never felt bored, my overall feeling was ‘just a bit meh’. It wasn’t too predictable and unlike others, I enjoyed the ending, but the whole film was just lacking something that I can’t put my finger on. At times it feels like not much is happening, and then I focused on little annoying things that shouldn’t have mattered. Eddie’s girlfriend for example, who wanted nothing to do with him at his lowest, but was all over him once he was rich. What a cow!

I think Bradley Cooper is brilliant but he didn’t get a chance to use his full potential here. Still, it was an enjoyable film, but that’s about it, really.

Lucy’s (Scarlett Johansson) terrible boyfriend lands her right in the middle of a drug scandal. She winds up as a drug mule for CPH4, a drug that makes a person able to utilise up to 100% of their brain. The bag inside Lucy’s stomach rips as the drug goes straight to her bloodstream. She then seeks revenge on her captors, and well, then it turns weird.

Honestly, I thought the first half of this film was brilliant. I loved how it went back and forth from Lucy as she unlocks more of her brain to Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) explaining his theory, and the clips of nature to tie in with it all. Then it hit 40% brain power, and it all went to hell. No one seemed as alarmed by Lucy as they probably should be, and I have no idea how to explain the scene on the plane. I went from fully understanding and enjoying the film, to a confused mess.

Once the credits rolled, my fiance and I looked at each other and said ‘what?’. That’s my only way of describing it. So, perhaps not surprisingly, Limitless is my winner!