Robert Rodriguez’s THE LIMIT review: intensely grindhouse-y

Early in the present era of virtual reality, which can be roughly marked by the dawning of consumer-available headsets in 2016, many filmmakers dabbled with the emerging medium, most attempting to port over the grammar and syntax of traditional motion pictures—assuming the same basic rules could more or less apply to VR. Robert Rodriguez is one of the more high profile names (others include Kathryn Bigelow, Doug Liman and Alejandro González Iñárritu), whose first-person 180 video The Limit is 18 minutes of visceral action, in which we embody a cyborg who escapes an endless array of baddies deployed by a nefarious tech organisation.

The 180 degree format effectively creates a screen-like space, returning to the virtual tableau what Peter Greenaway memorably called “the tyranny of the frame.” Thus shirking one of the key modalities of VR: an immersive 360 environment. Rather than inserting black space behind us, as is the standard, Rodriguez presents a small empty cinema, proclaiming his allegiance to traditional screen storytelling. And also communicating that there’s nothing in this world to explore: the action comes to us. Sometimes that action is rather intense: during one vertiginous scene, in which we leap out of a light plane, I wondered if I might soon witness the return of my breakfast.

Michelle Rodriguez’s assassin M-13 speaks to us via direct address throughout the experience, which begins in a grungy bar (“follow me to the back!”) then segues into a car chase sequence (“keep your seatbelt off, it’s more fun that way!”). Various villains are overlaid with target-like augmented displays, reminding us that we’ve embodied a cyborg. Various scenes (including the car chase, sky fall, and a final showdown with the head villain in his headquarters) channel the stomach-dropping appeal of high octane amusement park-like content, popular early in the present era of VR, such as roller coaster experiences and helicopter rides. Here framed in a heavily sculpted style with grungy, grindhouse-y vibes. 

The Limit was shot and edited—or perhaps crash-edited—in a cranked-to-eleven, intensely focused style. There’s no chance we’ll miss a visual effect or key narrative detail because Rodriguez has mashed them in our faces. There are moments when one feels inclined to look somewhere but, buckled into the ride, we cannot—such as that skydiving scene, in which we’re forced to keep our gaze on Michelle Rodriguez, with no option to check out the landscape below. The visual perspective at all times is fixed and predetermined. The official synopsis reiterates the immersant’s passivity, describing it as a “lean-back experience.” 

The official marketing materials had the gall to describe The Limit as a “groundbreaking” production. Quite the contrary: merely crowbarring an existing format, with a small tweak or two, inside an emerging medium can hardly be considered groundbreaking. It’ll be interesting to see how this experience ages. Will the “lean-back” VR experience become a thing? Or will this  be looked down upon as an exercise predicated on applying old language to a new format? Either way, I did find aspects of it rather thrilling. I’ve experienced Rodriguez’s wild ride twice so far—and will gladly be pushed, shoved, jolted and flipped again.