Storyline: An action-thriller about a writer who takes an experimental drug that allows him to use 100 percent of his mind. As one man evolves into the perfect version of himself, forces more corrupt than he can imagine mark him for assassination. Out-of-work writer Eddie Morra's (Cooper) rejection by girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) confirms his belief that he has zero future. That all vanishes the day an old friend introduces Eddie to NZT, a designer pharmaceutical that makes him laser focused and more confident than any man alive. Now on an NZT-fueled odyssey, everything Eddie's read, heard or seen is instantly organized and available to him. As the former nobody rises to the top of the financial world, he draws the attention of business mogul Carl Van Loon (De Niro), who sees this enhanced version of Eddie as the tool to make billions. But brutal side effects jeopardize his meteoric ascent...
Morra, Bradley Cooper's character's last name, is the imperative of "to die" in Brazilian Portuguese, which means the name of the character is something like "Edward Dies" or "Edward Die!".
Plot holes: During the realtor's presentation it is shown that the "vault grade door" has multiple bolts that go into the steel frame. The Russians only cut out the one lock at the door handle.
Eddie Morra: [to Carl Van Loon] No scenario? I see every scenario, I see 50 scenarios, that's what it does Carl - it puts me 50 moves ahead of you.
Eddie Morra: You see that guy? That was me not so long ago. What kind of guy without a drug or alcohol problem looks this way? Only a writer.
Eddie Morra: I don't have delusions of grandeur, I have an actual recipe for grandeur.
Eddie Morra: Well, in order for a career to evolve, I'm gonna have to move on. Carl Van Loon: And you would even think that, would only show me how unprepared you are to be on your own. I mean you do know you're a freak? Your deductive powers are a gift from God or chance or a straight shot of sperm or whatever or whoever wrote your life-script. A gift, not earned. You do not know what I know because you have not earned those powers. You're careless with those powers, you flaunt them and you throw them around like a brat with his trust-fund. You haven't had to climb up all the greasy little rungs. You haven't been bored blind at the fundraisers. You haven't done the time and that first marriage to the girl with the right father. You think you can leap over all in a single bound. You haven't had to bribe or charm or threat your way to a seat at that table. You don't know how to assess your competition because you haven't competed. Don't make me your competition.
The powerful but arrogant warrior Thor is cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard and sent to live amongst humans on Earth, where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.
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Runtime: 115 min
Taglines Two worlds. One hero. Courage is immortal The god of thunder. The king of Asgard. The god of mischief. The guardian of worlds. The goddess of war. The woman of science.
The title of the film doesn't appear until the end credits.
Trivia: It's mentioned in passing that Thor's hammer was forged inside "a dying star". This actually makes a modicum of scientific sense. When a very large star dies in a supernova, sometimes its remains collapse to form a "neutron star". These objects cram the mass of the sun into the size of a city, forming a new kind of matter nicknamed neutronium. A single teaspoon of this material would weigh billions of tonnes. If Mjolnir was made of this material, it would certainly explain its incredible weight.
Quotes
Agent Coulson: [interrogating Thor] It's not easy to do what you did. You made my men, some of the most highly trained professionals in the world look like a bunch of minimum-wage mall cops. In my experience, it takes someone who's received similar training to do what you did to them. Why don't you tell me where you received that training? Afghanistan, Chechnya? No, you strike me more as the soldier of fortune type. Who are you?
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Agent Cale: [staring at The Destroyer] Is that one of Stark's? Agent Coulson: I don't know. Guy never tells me anything.
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Thor: You! What place is this? Elfheim, Nilfheim? Darcy: [frightened, pulls out a taser] New Mexico? Thor: You dare threaten the son of Odin with such a puny weapon...? [Darcy tasers him] Darcy: [to Jane] What? He was freaking me out!
--- Times Like These - Foo Fighters Thor: Once I retrieve Mjolnir, I will return to you the items they stole from you. Deal? Jane Foster: No. You think you're gonna just walk in and walk out ? Thor: No. I'm gonna fly out.
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Thor: My friends, have you forgotten all that we have done together? Fandral, Hogun, who led you into the glorious of battles? Hogun: You did. Thor: And, Volstagg, who introduced you to delicacies so succulent you thought you'd died and gone to Valhalla? Volstagg: [chuckles] You did. Thor: And who proved wrong all who scoffed at the idea that a young maiden could be one of the fiercest warriors this realm has ever known? Sif: I did! Thor: True, but I supported you, Sif.
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Thor: [walking into a pet shop] I need a horse! Pet Store Clerk: We don't have horses. Just dogs, cats, birds. Thor: Then give me one of those large enough to ride.
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[after hitting Thor with her car... again] Jane Foster: I swear I'm not doing this on purpose.
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Darcy: [On seeing Thor, who's been hit by their car, lying on the ground] Whoa, does he need CPR? 'Cause I totally know CPR!
--- Best Of You - Foo Fighters Agent Garrett: [about Thor's Asgard buddies] Is there a Renaissance Fair in town? Agent Jackson: Call it in. Agent Garrett: Yeah. Uh, base, we've got, uh, Xena, Jackie Chan, and Robin Hood.
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Thor: [taking coffee for the first time] This drink... I like it! More! [throws the mug on the floor and shatters it] Jane Foster: [to the other people] Sorry, it was an accident... Jane Foster: [to Thor] What was that? Thor: It was delicious! I want another! Jane Foster: You could have asked! Thor: I just did! Jane Foster: I meant nicely! Thor: I meant no disrespect. Jane Foster: No smashing. Deal? Thor: You have my word.
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[Thor is knocked down by a gargantuan SHIELD agent] Thor: You're big. I've fought bigger.
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Heimdall: You would defy the commands of Loki, our king? Break every oath you have taken as warriors, and commit treason to bring Thor back? Sif: Yes. Heimdall: Good. Sif: So you will help us? Heimdall: I am bound by honor to our king. I cannot open the bridge to you. [walks off] Fandral: Complicated fellow, isn't he? [the Bifrost activates on its own]
PLOT: Aliens and their Guardians are hiding on Earth from intergalactic bounty hunters. They can only be killed in numerical order, and Number Four is next on the list. This is his story.
The studio tried to recreate the success of Twilight with this film by marketing it as a "Twilight for boys". Although a box office success, the movie did not create the hundreds of millions that the Twilight films grossed. Although, this movie won a Teen Choice Award in the category Choice Movie Breakout: Male for Alex Pettyfer.
Plot holes: When Henri gives John his phone, he informs him that he'll be calling every hour John is on his own to make sure he's okay, and if John doesn't pick up, Henri will know something is wrong (implying he'll assume the Mogs have attacked John and will come looking for him). During dinner at Sarah's, John reluctantly surrenders his phone after noticing three missed calls from Henri. Despite the fact that John had not answered his phone for three hours, Henri did nothing about it, and does not even mention it at all afterward.
Continuity: During the scene where John throws the football back at Mark's friend, Sarah is just getting her camera out and doesn't take pictures of John until after he throws the football. However, when John is looking at her website later, there are a sequence of photos of him throwing the football.
Continuity: When John and Nicole are making out in the water (about 5 feet deep) at the beginning of the movie they are far away from the other people at the beach party. When John's leg starts glowing she has to swim to shore and then run to the other people. But in the video from the website they are in shallow water (2-3 feet deep) and the person filming them is apparently quite close as the video is very clear and close up.
Los Angeles and other cities around the world are being bombarded by meteors that seem to be slowing down once they hit the earth's atmosphere. The earth is suddenly being invaded by space aliens that have landed off the shore of LA, and who begin killing everybody along the beach. The military is ordered into action. Marine Staff Sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), who was about to retire, is reassigned to a new platoon. The platoon, flown by chopper to the forward operating base at Santa Monica Airport, is being led by a new 2nd Lt. Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez). They are sent on a mission to rescue some civilians who are trapped at the police station within alien territory. They only have 3 hours to complete their mission and get out before the Air Force bombs that zone. 1 win and 1 nomination
The film is inspired by the real life incident known as the Battle of Los Angeles, during World War II. On the night of 24-25 February 1942, unidentified aircraft were allegedly spotted in the airspace above Los Angeles. Suspecting it to be the Japanese, a blackout of the city was ordered and over 1,440 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition was fired. Upon finding no evidence of the existence of any enemy aircraft, the incident was declared to be a "false alarm". The event has since been chalked up to as being a result of "war nerves", likely triggered by a lost weather balloon and exacerbated by stray flares and shell bursts from adjoining anti-aircraft batteries.
Very little of the film was actually shot in Los Angeles. Tax incentives brought the production to Louisiana where sets of Los Angeles streets were constructed.
Aaron Eckhart broke his arm while filming a stunt. He never missed a day of work because of it.
Due to script changes, 'Michelle Rodriguez''s character wasn't added until a month before filming began.
The officer referred to by Sgt. Nantz on the bus in reference to the line "Retreat Hell" is Capt. Lloyd W. Williams of the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines.When advised to withdraw by a French officer at the defensive line just north of the village of Lucy-le-Bocage on June 1st, 1918, he is said to have replied: "Retreat? Hell, we just got here!". Captain Williams died 11 days later near Chateau-Thierry.
Factual errors: Public transit buses don't require a key to start, so there is no need to "hot wire" one. Factual errors: The laser used to "paint" the target is depicted as a red laser. Lasers used for this purpose are not in the visible spectrum.
Cpl. Kevin Harris: Santos, you okay? TSgt. Elena Santos: Yeah. I got that nasty stuff all over my mouth, man. TSgt. Elena Santos: Ha ha ha ha. Cpl. Kevin Harris: It's not funny. TSgt. Elena Santos: Ha. You let him do you on the first date.
Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent, student at M.I.T. in Boston who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine with the desire to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 for the four to five years of schooling as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor Micky Rosa into a small but secretive club of five. Students Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa of the skill of card counting at blackjack. Intrigued by the desire to make money, Ben joins his new friends on secret weekend trips to Las Vegas where, using their skills of code talk and hand signals, they have Ben make hundreds of thousands of dollars in winning blackjack at casino after casino. Ben only wants to make enough money for the tuition to Harvard and then back out.
Taglines: - Inspired by the true story of five students who changed the game forever. - They proved the Vegas Blackjack System was beatable...by beating the hell out of it.
Continuity: During the first meeting with Ben, the cards that Micky deals alternate from face up, face down, and missing altogether.
Continuity: When Ben's mom is serving birthday cake to Ben and his friends, she serves Cam twice.
Continuity: When Ben is handed his earnings from the first night a five dollar bill is seen on the outside of the bundle. Moments later a $100 is on the outside.
Continuity: During the opening credits, while Ben is riding his bike on the road, you see the same orange PT cruiser go past twice and the same silver Chrysler 300C go past three times.
Continuity: During the opening scene montage, when Ben is riding his bike across the bridge, the position of his backpack changes several times.
Continuity: When Prof Rosa calls Cole, Terry answers the phone and places Rosa on hold. However, when Cole takes the phone from Terry, he does not take Rosa off of hold and proceeds to talk to him.
Continuity: When Mickey and Ben are walking through the park before the first trip, there is no one behind them. The camera changes and there is a woman walking her dog and another man.
Continuity: The first night the group gambles in Las Vegas they are in the Hard Rock Casino, however the table at which Ben gambles says "Red Rock Casino". When he switches tables it says "Hard Rock Casino."
Continuity: When Ben meets with Mickey and the group for the first time, he explains the basic rules of 21 and deals himself a face-up card, then the camera cuts to Ben then back to Mickey and now Mickey's card is face down.
Continuity: In the shot of Ben counting cards on the first arrival in Vegas, Ben's tray is down. If the plane is as close to arriving as the view from the window shows, the trays would have to be in the "up and locked" position.
Continuity: During the chase seen at the end of the movie Kate Bosworth's character alternates between running in heels and running barefoot.
Continuity: When Ben is riding his bike on the bridge, a young guy with a lady are passing in the back stage. After this, when a yellow stripped bus passed behind Ben, that young guy and lady disappeared (it seems, they jumped into water) then another lady in white jacket appears who was absent before in the back stage.
Plot holes: In two separate places in the film, the player is hollering for the dealer to draw a "monkey" (a face card or a ten) when, in fact, a monkey would have given the dealer a winning hand. The first instance is when an Asian woman introduces the main character to the slang. The more egregious of the two instances is when the main character (who, by this time in the film, has established his big player credentials) calls out for a monkey twice when either of those times would have given the dealer a winning hand.
Crew or equipment visible: When Ben leaves the Hard Rock Hotel after their first night in Vegas, the shadow of the Cameraman and Camera on the dolly are visible on the hotel front and security guards in the background.
Factual errors: In the scene were we first see Ben in the casino playing for the first time, the count is +18. We then see a face card (worth 10) appear and Ben wins. Micky then asks him what the count is. He says +18, but it's really +17 because a face card has a value of -1.
Revealing mistakes: All the cards in the casino scenes have rounded corners opposite the index numbers, identifying them as used cards that have since been removed from use on the casino floor and altered so they can never be sneaked back into play.
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Miles shows Ben the source code of the robot, Ben looks at them and immediately says this is very good. Actually, even a highly experienced programmer could not understand a source code just by looking at it for 2 seconds, especially the code of a really complex system such as this robot.
Micky Rosa: Choi, you made five grand last night. So would you stop stealing 9 cent pens and everything you can get your hands on from the maid's cart. It's embarrassing! -- Micky Rosa: [to Ben about card counting] What were going to do is perfectly legal and they can't do a single thing about it. [very next scene: in a concrete room, bare bulb lights, a fist hits a guy who's strapped to a chair: he's bleeding/sweating] Cole Williams: You think you can beat the system? [shows guy his meaty fist] Cole Williams: This *is the system*... *beating you back* Cole Williams: You wanna count cards, you do it in Atlantic City! Get him up. Terry: [growling] Let's go. Get up! On your feet! Cole Williams: Count to five. Count to five! Card Counter: [disillusioned] What? Cole Williams: Count to five so that you don't have brain damage, you can go home. Terry: Start with One. Card Counter: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Cole Williams: Good. Now... stop counting! -- Choi: [laughing and taking a video while Ben is goofing off as a new persona in the mirror] No please, keep going, this video's priceless! -- Ben Campbell: [after Jill wakes him up when their plane arrives in Boston] I seem to be waking up to you a lot. Jill Taylor: Don't get used to it. -- Micky Rosa: [while Choi is stealing everything that isn't nailed down in the hotel room] *Hey!* You steal The Bible, you go to Hell. Those are the rules. Choi: Like I'm not going anyway. -- Ben Campbell: [in regards to Mickey Rosa inviting him to the Blackjack team] So why are you telling me? Micky Rosa: Well, let's just say a spot opened up on our roster. Ben Campbell: How? Micky Rosa: Jimmy got a job at Google. Ben Campbell: Jim... Jimmy got a job at Google? Micky Rosa: Yeah, it's catchy, I know. Ben Campbell: Well, if you're making so much money at this then why did he take it? Micky Rosa: Ben, I said Google, not Sizzler. -- Ben Campbell [Last Lines]: I had a 1590 on my SAT, I got a 44 on my MCAT, and I have a 4.0 GPA from MIT. I thought I had my life mapped out, but then I remembered what my non linear equations professor once told me, always account for variable change... I let down my good friends, but as it turns out, they weren't too bad at simple math either. I scored the prettiest girl in school. I got beaten down by an old school Vegas thug who was having trouble accepting his retirement, but I worked out a deal with him that got him a nice pension... And I lied to my mother, but I confessed a lie and well, she still loved me... So my senior year of college I joined this team and I learned this new skill. I went to Vegas 17 times to use it. I made hundreds of thousands of dollars counting cards. And then I had it all stolen from me, twice... How's that for life experience professor? Did I dazzle you? Did I jump off the page? -- Micky Rosa: He says, "Ben, do you want to stay with door number one or go with door number two?". Now, is it in your interest to switch your choice? Ben Campbell: Yeah. Micky Rosa: Well wait, the host knows where the car is. So how do you know he's not trying to play a trick on you - trying to use reverse psychology to get you to pick a goat? Ben Campbell: Well I wouldn't really care. I mean, my answer's based on statistics - based on variable change. Micky Rosa: Variable change? But he just asked you a simple question. Ben Campbell: Yeah, which changed everything. Micky Rosa: Enlighten us. Ben Campbell: Well, when I was originally asked to pick a door, I had a 33.3% chance of choosing right. But after he opens one of the doors and re-offers me the choice, it's now 66.7% if I choose to switch... So yeah, I'll take door number two and thank you for the extra 33.3%. Micky Rosa: Exactly. People, remember - if you don't know which door to open, always account for variable change. Micky Rosa: Now see, most people wouldn't take the switch, out paranoia, fear, emotions. But Mr. Campbell, he kept his emotions aside and let simple math [in a game show host voice] Micky Rosa: get his ass into a brand new car!... Which is better than that goat you've been driving around campus...
An alternate ending was shot, where Mickey Rose evaded capture from Cole Williams. After retirement, Cole spots Mickey gambling on a boat and the two trade stories about their past.
