New thread on the TV show: Limitless - the TV show - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
Since others have continued to comment on this over the years, I hope you all won’t mind me re-opening the discussion. I had meant to watch this when it was in the theater, but somehow never made it. I just signed up for a DVD.com trial since it wasn’t available on the streaming services I had, and finally sat down to watch today. I was not disappointed.
Two questions for those who have watched it:
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Did you get the sense that DeNiro’s character had some reason for not ever wanting to take the drug himself? I found myself a bit surprised, but figured that maybe his speech earlier in the film about Eddie’s rise being a “cheat” meant that Van Loon would never go down that path himself. Even at the end, when Van Loon thinks he’s outsmarted Eddie, it still does not seem to be because of the drug, even though Van Loon clearly knows about the drug at that point. So does it make sense that it’s just because Van Loon considered himself smarter than any drug could make anyone else?
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I don’t want to wander into the TV show thread in case there are spoilers within. So can those who have watched both offer an opinion as to whether the TV show is worth watching?
At any rate, a wonderful film. My biggest problem with it was the failure to pay back the $100k loan right away, but as was pointed out upthread, our thug may have been after Eddie anyway just for the hell of it.
Bumped to answer Asimovian’s questions.
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I suspect Van Loon (De Niro’s character) didn’t try the drug either because of ego (he thinks he’s plenty smart already), prejudice (drug addicts are losers), old-guy caution (who knows what this non-FDA-approved drug will do to me?) or specific health concerns (Eddie alluded to Van Loon’s heart condition in the final scene on the sidewalk).
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I was disappointed in the TV series, but it has its moments.
Great movie, though. One of my favorites of the 2000s so far.
Bumped again.
Just learned that the author of the original novel wrote a well-reviewed sequel, published last year: https://www.amazon.com/Receptor-Novel-Alan-Glynn/dp/1250061806/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1591709869&sr=1-4
Finished the book, Receptor, last night. Meh. The story jumps back and forth between the present day and the early Fifties, as a political consultant to a Congresswoman from New York learns that the circumstances of his grandfather’s death - suicide by jumping from a hotel window - were not all that they seemed. Cameo appearances by Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Frank Costello, Dylan Thomas and Lyndon B. Johnson, among others, don’t save the book. A disappointment, I’m sorry to say.
Bumped yet again. I just saw the movie and it was a good one. Quite enjoyable! Thanks for the recommendation @Elendil_s_Heir
It ran on HBO the other day and I stumbled across it just as it was beginning - it was still pretty good, though maybe not quite as good as I remembered. There was something a little too clever? self-aware? about the direction and narrative style that didn’t bug me the last couple of times I watched it, but did now.
Still, I think it’s a film that earns its 7.4 IMDb rating, or which could even be a little higher.
Definitely not perfect, but still a great movie, I think. I saw it for maybe the fourth time a few months back.
I watched the TV series before I realized that it was based on the film (100% opposite from when I watched the film first for Dead Like Me without realizing that there was a TV series).
I enjoyed both very much. I’ve watched the series 4 or 5 times, and I’ve seen the movie twice. The TV series was more lighthearted, and I was thrilled to find that it left me with an almost Black Mirror aftertaste–How much can I improve before I’m not me anymore?