So I watched "Limitless" with my wife tonight. Had not seen it before. It was an interesting idea, interestingly developed, until they shoved the idiot ball into the protagonist's hand about midway through the movie.What made the idiot ball particularly egregious was that when they explained how the drug that gave the protagonist "limitless" intelligence worked, they went into some detail. They showed how the protagonist could easily access the whole of his memory, blending together memories of textbook covers he saw out of the corner of his eye in study hall years ago and bits from old movies and TV shows to give him the ability to string almost anybody along about anything. It also gives him a clarity about what sort of things he can and should do. It gives him goals and drive. (Not necessarily true of intelligence alone in real life, but maybe it's more effects of the drug.)So the protagonist gets a loan from a Russian loan shark to finance his future plans. Risky, but hey, he's got super intelligence, he can make good on it, and his resources are limited when he starts out. And it's true, he DOES make good on it.And forgets all about paying off the Russian loan shark as he goes about his plans. COMPLETELY bakes on it, man. Until he has a violent encounter with said loan shark.Now, I know we all have our flaws and limits, but a person of even the most ordinary intelligence would have the brains to pay off a Russian loan shark. And our protagonist has SUPER intelligence. He's not the kind of gormless mook that gets used as a punching bag by loan sharks.Except in "Limitless," our protagonist is just that.It was just lazy, stupid script writing, the kind of lazy, stupid script writing that also made them have the protagonist not worry himself about who shot the dealer who sold him the super intelligence drug and why they did it, etc. Things a person with super intelligence just might want to think about for their own personal well-being.So, that's why I didn't enjoy limitless nearly as much as I might have. The first third of it was fun, they did do a really nice job of showing how super intelligence might manifest itself, but when you have a genius playing with the idiot ball for no reason other than cheap, easy plot convenience, you lose me. And you deserve to. via /r/movies https://ift.tt/33kwZpS
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