History Film / Limitless

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: To have SuperIntelligence [[{{Pride}} goes right to any consumer of NZT's head]]: Everyone becomes DrunkWithpower, alienates his friends to be InWithTheInCrowd (only to discover that is LonelyAtTheTop), [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and becomes a]] SharpDressedMan.

* RagsToRiches: Middle class Eddie Morra invokes this trope. Sadly, [[DeconstructedTrope it takes much more time than he wants to spend on this goal]], so he asks for a loan from TheMafiya and takes a credit from the CorruptCorporateExecutive. ItGotWorse from there. See WritersCannotDoMath for a deeper analysis.

* {{Reed Richards IS Useless}}: Instead of curing cancer or ending world hunger, most users apply their new smarts for money, political power, or just making their lives better. {{Justified}} with varying levels of {{With Great Power Comes Great Insanity}} as users like Eddie still make impulsive decisions which can be increased by the drugs giving feelings of invincibility. He does also figure out [[spoiler:a way to keep NZT's properties without needing the drug, and even enhance them.]]

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: To have SuperIntelligence [[{{Pride}} goes right to any consumer of NZT’s head]]: Everyone becomes DrunkWithpower, alienates his friends to be InWithTheInCrowd (only to discover that is LonelyAtTheTop), [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and becomes a]] SharpDressedMan.

* DumbassNoMore: The premise of the film, though notably the guy who gets the full benefits of the drug is the one who was already an educated aspiring author; his similarly educated ex-wife is also notable for seemingly being the only character to recognise that the drug was too dangerous to keep using. The Russian loanshark is the best example of someone who was actually a bit dumb, and noticeably while he is far smarter than he was before, he is still not comparable to Eddie, as one of his newest

* TheLoad: Eddie suffers chronic writer’s block before taking NZT and is dumped by Lindy, but she is not afraid of him until he becomes TheMillstone.

** Eddie’s ex wife also dumped him while she was under the NZT’s influence. Eddie would have not contacted her if not for his own problems with NZT.

* TheMillstone: Eddie manages to ruin Van Loon’s greatest business; he unwillingly hooks the Russian into NZT, his two bodyguards are killed, as well as two {{Heroic Bystander}}s. Lindy realizes Eddie cannot care about anything except NZT, so she abandons him as fast as she can.

** Lindy is a winner before she takes NZT, but after that, she doesn’t become a loser. She doesn’t want anything to do with the drug that made her cross the MoralEventHorizon.

** Eddie is TheLoad before he uses NZT, but after that, he doesn’t become a winner. He becomes TheMillstone.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Done interestingly since the movie opens InMediasRes: Eddie jumping off the cliff into the sea foreshadows his [[spoiler: apparent]] suicide jump that opens the movie.
** Also makes for a nice trailer spot.

* IdiotBall: Eddie makes some dumb decisions for a guy with a four-digit IQ, though the pills do apparently give the user a feeling of invincibility.

* DumbassNoMore: The premise of the film, though notably the guy who gets the full benefits of the drug is the one who was already an educated aspiring author; his similarly educated ex-wife is also notable for seemingly being the only character to recognise that the drug was too dangerous to keep using. The Russian loanshark is the best example of someone who was actually a bit dumb, and noticeably while he is far smarter than he was before, he is still not comparable to Eddie, as one of his newest intelligence feats is discovering "this thing called Google."
* EscapistCharacter: Eddie is a [[ThisLoserIsYou failure]], up until a wonder drug gives him SuperIntelligence. Though he's a very intelligent failure, after all he did get Abbie Cornish.

* YouFailBiologyForever: The film is based around the NinetyPercentOfYourBrain myth.

** Though his life goes through hell for a while, Eddie still gets away with removing evidence from a murder scene, sleeping with a married woman and cheating on his own girlfriend, and taking illegal drugs by the end of the film.
** Also [[spoiler: the mook who stalks Eddie for most of the film, threatens his girlfriend and murders two innocent people in broad daylight. But in the end, he helps Eddie get the NZT back, and all is forgiven.]]

* DrugsAreBad: Played with. The movie shows the consequences of abusing the drug in very icky detail that sometimes enters ''RequiemForADream'' territory. But Eddie's much more capable and hyperintelligent when on said drugs, he's trying to quit them that turns things worse, [[spoiler:and it finally turns out he can remain super-smart without taking the drug at all]]. Could possibly be a BrokenAesop.

** After he takes NZT and before he decides to get rich, Eddie has a conversation about the rise and fall of the Portugese Empire: How some guys that nobody expected capable of anything take over the world for a few centuries, and as suddenly as they took charge, all his accomplishments vanish into nothing.

* OntologicalInertia: subverted because there is not time travel, but one of the themes of the movie is how, even with the AppliedPhletibonium NZT pills, things continue to be the same:

• OntologicalInertia: subverted because there is not time travel, but one of the themes of the movie is how, even with the AppliedPhletibonium NZT pills, things continue to be the same:

* IdiotBall: For someone supposedly given a 4-digit IQ, Eddie could have avoided a lot of problems if [[spoiler:he had just paid the Russian loanshark back as soon as he had the money]]. Or just been a little more patient. He quadrupled his money in three days, all he need was another three days, and he would've had the 100K all on his own.
** Though his problems with the [[spoiler: loan shark]] arise when he doubles the medication and starts skipping time.

* IKnowMortalKombat: "I don't know how to fight... or do I?" *cue BruceLee flashbacks*

** The same shot finishes the trailer as well.
* InsecuritySystem: In the real world, the climax would be stopped dead by Eddie's security system.

** Deconstructed: Eddie can manage the theory, but he doesn’t have the experience to know when they are playing with him.
* KarmaHoudini: Though his life goes through hell for a while, Eddie still gets away with removing evidence from a murder scene, sleeping with a married woman and cheating on his own girlfriend, and taking illegal drugs by the end of the film.

* TheMafiya: Russian loan sharks are such [[SarcasmMode cheerful, understanding fellows]].
* TheMillstone: Eddie manages to ruin Van Loon’s greatest business; he unwillingly hooks the Russian into NZT, his two bodyguards are killed, so two {{HeroicBystander}}s. Lindy realizes Eddie cannot care about anything except NZT, so she abandons him as fast as she can.

* NinetyPercentOfYourBrain: TheMovie of the trope. The "you are only using 10% of your brain" myth is central to the story. Though they are slightly closer to reality with 20%, as 80% of your brain is used for unconscious actions.
* {{Omniglot}}: In his first month on the drug, Eddie was able to learn and fluently speak foreign languages, just by listen to them a few times. We see four (Italian, Russian, French and Mandarin), but there's probably more.

* OrangeBlueContrast: Used constantly in the movie. Look at the poster, for one.

* SharpDressedMan: Eddie on NZT.
** It seems like another ''secondary effect'' of NZT: The Russian dressed very casually before taking NZT, and Eddie seems very unsettled when he confronts her disheveled ex-wife: when you’re on NZT you dress for success.

* ShoutOut: The name of the book Eddie eventually writes is "Illuminating the Dark Fields." The book on which this movie is based is "The Dark Fields," by Alan Glynn.

* StealthPun / IncrediblyLamePun: In the third act Eddie is given a package labeled "Hand Delivery to Edward Mazzo". What does the package contain? [[spoiler: The severed hands of his bodyguards.]]

* YouFailBiologyForever: The reason you only use 20% of your brain at a time is because the other 80% is specialized, dealing with non-cognitive functions carried out by the rest of your body, meaning you can't devote it to whatever you want. Trying to use all of it at once would be like trying to become a better writer by using every key on your keyboard in every sentence.
** Likely just hyperbole on the part of the only character who mentions this myth. The movie expands on the effect of NZT, describing it as giving perfect recall to every little bit of information ever recorded into memories, and the ability to make connections that would not necessarily be obvious. You become hyper-aware, not just of what's happening currently, but of everything you've ever experienced.

* DecoyProtagonist: Not ''protagonist'' exactly - Eddie is clearly the main character from the word go - but the first third of the movie implies Eddie's ex-wife Melissa (played by Anna Friel) is going to come into the story in a big way. Eddie has a flashback to her dumping him, the person he actually gets the drug from is her brother and he keeps trying to get in touch with her. In fact since Friel is arguably a bigger name than Cornish the audience might well be expecting her to be the female lead. In the end Melissa shows up for one five minute scene halfway through and is never mentioned again while Lindy (Cornish's character) stays an important, if supporting character.

** Deconstructed: When he gets SuperIntelligence, Eddie doesn’t become a winner, he is a [[SmugSuper selfish jerk that only cares in his next dose, no matter who has to die to get it]].

* MoralEventHorizon: Another secondary effect of NZT is to let the user ignore the MoralEventHorizon:
** When Lindy takes NZT to escape from an assassin, she uses a little girl as an ImprovisedWeapon. When she is free of the effects, she doesn’t want anything to do with NZT or Eddie.
** Any other user hooked on NZT is willingly enough to torture or kill for another dosis.

* SharpDressedMan: Eddie on NZT.