If you haven’t seen Limitless, the 2011 movie starring Bradley Cooper as Eddie Mora, you might want to go do that before the series airs this fall.
As an aside, the original movie was actually based on a book called The Dark Fields.
You don’t normally have to watch a movie before a TV series spinoff, as most of the time the characters don’t overlap and the story tends to be different. That doesn’t appear to be the case with Limitless. One of the first things we see in the new trailer is Bradley Cooper’s character Eddie Mora as he reprises the role.
Later on, we see him again. It appears he will have a recurring role on the series, which means the show is going to tie-in heavily with the movie.
What Happens In the Movie?
Eddie Mora is pretty much a hopeless novelist when we first meet him in the movie. He’s struggling from a serious case of writer’s block, and that ineptitude permeates into many areas of his life.
One of his friends — who happens to be a chemical researcher — gives him an experimental drug called NZT-48. Unbeknownst to Eddie, NZT-48 is a nootropic, a powerful brain and memory enhancing drug that offers him crazy abilities. Suddenly, he can learn much faster, retain more information, recall all his memories and more. He essentially becomes the smartest man in the world, until the drug wears off anyway.
Eventually, Eddie realizes that he can’t go on without the drug and becomes hooked. The problem is, he experiences some pretty terrible side effects and withdrawals when it wears off. Plus, he gets mixed up in a bit of trouble.
I won’t spoil the movie, but it does end on a high note. Eddie gains a significant amount of power and wealth in the US, which he uses to his advantage. He hires skilled scientists to reverse engineer NZT-48 and improve the drug. That’s where it leaves off, and apparently that’s where the series picks up.
Check out the trailer then head past the break for a closer analysis of what’s going on.
What’s Do We See in the Trailer?
Right away we see Eddie — from the movie — offering the series protagonist, Brian Finch some of the wonder drug, NZT.
It’s not entirely clear why Eddie is offering the drug to Brian, nor what kind of connection they have. That’s probably something the series will explore in more detail.
Something important to point out, is this show has something a few others don’t. In the TV series Bradley Cooper will play a recurring role, so it can have a much deeper connection to the film. That’s something you’ll never see happen in a show like Minority Report, because let’s face it Tom Cruise probably isn’t going to show up on TV anytime soon.
This is our first glimpse of Jake McDorman as Brian Finch, and oh would you look at that, he has NZT in his hand.
That’s Jennifer Carpenter as Special Agent Rebecca Harris from the FBI. Dexter fans may recognize her as Debra Morgan, Dexter’s sister.
In a previous scene we see Brian Finch escaping his apartment, running away from FBI agents. It looks like he’s going to get mixed up in some kind of criminal underworld like Eddie Mora did in the film. Although, we don’t know yet what he’s in trouble for or who’s after him. It’s possible those first agents we see aren’t even really FBI agents, they might be working for someone sinister.
As he escapes, we get a glimpse at some of the things he can do. In one scene he leaps down to the ground floor using the fire escape, before calculating his survival odds moments later.
NZT is pretty amazing stuff, man.
Here we see Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Nasreen Awad, agent Harris’ boss. Awad is the Special Agent in charge of the division investigating NZT.
Agent Harris calls Brian’s abilities a “resource,” and proclaims “let’s make it our resource.” This comes right after we hear dialogue from Brian Finch that he knows why people are turning up dead and that he can help someone, find out what’s going on. Presumably, that someone is Agent Harris.
This lends credence to the idea that it’s going to be a police procedural, with Finch helping the FBI solve crimes related to the drug NZT.
The final shot is Eddie Mora talking to Brian Finch. This is likely the first hint that he’s going to appear throughout the series instead of just in the pilot. Even though he appears to be wearing the same outfit as the first shot, it’s what he says that’s most interesting.
“It’s about time that we talked.”
We’ll find out when the series airs on CBS in the fall. Did you enjoy the movie? Are you excited for the TV series adaptation?
