Giving it 100%

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2014)

Life isn't going well for writer Eddie Morra; he hasn't written a single word of his new book, he is a total slob and unsurprisingly his girlfriend has just dumped him. Then he bumps into his ex-brother in law who gives him a pill, called NZT, which promises to enable him to use one hundred present of his brain's capability. He says he has no intention of taking it but inevitably he does and suddenly everything is crystal clear; that evening he sits down and writes several chapters of his book. In the morning he realises he must get more of the pills; he returns to see his ex-brother in law and agrees to run a simple errand for him; when he returns the man is dead and the apartment has been ransacked they killers didn't find the NZT but Eddie does. Taking the pills he soon finishes his book and gets back with his girlfriend. That isn't all though; his ability enables him to play the markets with money borrowed from a Russian gangster. Making a rapid fortune he starts to attract attention; not all of it welcome. Other people want the pills and will kill to get them and he learns that just stopping taking them isn't an option as other users are dead or dying now the supply is over.
This is a pretty solid thriller; the pill and its effects are obviously science fiction but it isn't really a sci-fi thriller. Bradley Cooper does a good job as Eddie; it is very much his film; everybody else is very much in a supporting role. Most notably of the supporting cast it Robert DeNiro is great as Carl Van Loon, the financier Eddie gets involved with. Abbie Cornish is fine as his girlfriend although her character doesn't get as much screen time as one might expect. The way the film opens leads us to believe Eddie will meet a sticky end on the pavement below his apartment but that doesn't decrease the tension in scenes set elsewhere. For the most part there is nothing disturbing but one fight does include some wince inducing moments! The effect used to show the effect of the drug is very effective. There are some flaws of course; he took an awfully long time to start trying to establish a new supply of NZT given how smart it made him and was shockingly negligent about dealing with those who were after him still the drama would have suffered if he was too successful. Overall I really enjoyed this; I vaguely recall it getting fairly average revues when it came out but so that proved a nice surprise.