Limitless

A high-concept thriller with boundless energy and an undercurrent of looming danger; Limitless is often as exciting and tense as it is outright daring.

A struggling writer Eddie Morra (Cooper) has little going for him after his girlfriend (Cornish) dumps him and his career stalls, having never really gotten off the ground. So when an old friend offers Eddie the opportunity to be rich and successful by simply taking a revolutionary new pill, our luckless hero jumps at the chance. The drug, which heightens the percentage of the brain that a person uses, turns Eddie’s life around as he rises through the ranks of the wealthy and desirable. But his meteoric rise eventually captures some unwanted attention with some adverse results.

Cooper proves himself to be a bona-fide star with a charismatic presence as the invigorated Eddie, whilst British actress Anna Friel puts in a competent turn alongside veteran Robert De Niro. Whilst the plot inevitably has it holes, the film whizzes along so quickly that they’re hardly noticeable; you just speed right over the cracks in this bumpy thriller. Along these lines the film presents bold and atypical visual effects with psychedelic sequences aided by extreme zooms and fish eye effects.

It is such that watching Limitless is more of a mind bending experience than most modern Hollywood features that prefer to toe the lines of genre convention. Instead what director Neil Burger gives us is a giddy, sometimes funny, sometimes edgy hour and a half of entertainment.

Luke Woellhaf