6 Acclaimed Films With Narratives That Relied On Several Plot Holes
5. Limitless
All jokes aside, I liked this film. Limitless was arguably Bradley Cooper's best performance until The Place Beyond The Pines, and re-introduced us to Robert De Niro, who had been caught in some terrible pieces of film at that time. The idea of this miracle pill was incredibly interesting, and the movie as a whole was overall an enjoyable experience.
However, I cannot help but bring up its giant amount of flaws in the story (because that's just the horrible and cynical person I am). To start the bidding, there's the deal about the Eastern European gangster. Why would the smartest man on Earth get involved with an Eastern European gangster? It's an Eastern European gangster, for God's sake. The supposed reason for this was that he didn't have the credit, and didn't want to wait. Seriously, if I had the choice between waiting for a fortnight whilst earning money in the pools, and getting in a tangle with a guy who butchers people for a living, I know which one I (and most likely 99% of the population) would choose.
Secondly, Eddie Morra (Cooper) becomes filthy, stinking rich from the gangster's loan, right? He's pretty much swimming in money. Yet Morra intelligently decides to wait a few more weeks to pay him back. Just, why? Any sane man would sprint to that diner with money in hand the second he got paid. Why wait for him to come to your place and steal your happy pills?
Finally, there's then the revelation we learn at the end of the film (spoilers). Apparently, NZT could be revamped into a permanent drug, as Morra proved, eliminating the consequence of a slow and painful death when the pill wasn't taken. So, my question is, why hadn't the countless others who had had the pill before (and probably died of it) not tried this? If they know that their supply would run out, wouldn't they try to at least try to solve that type of problem? Sure they can make more, but that pile would run out, and more money would drain. These 'smartest men in the world' would have definitely found the way of revamping the pill into a permanent thing, becoming safe from extreme withdrawal symptoms, while never having to worry about running low on the drugs.