Unusual and enjoyable

Rating: 9/10 (1 April 2011)

Bradley Cooper is Eddie Morra, a down-at-heel writer: despite having received an advance for his book, he hasn't written a word. He lives in apathetic squalor and his girlfriend is on the point of dumping him. Then he bumps into his ex-wife's brother who offers him a tablet - legal, apparently - which will unlock access to the 90% of his brain which isn't normally used. Suddenly Eddie is able to finish his book, read the markets and make money, learn languages overnight, and become a general wunderkind. However, there is a price to be paid. More precisely, there are several prices to be paid.
Having seen the trailer for Limitless a number of times, I thought I had a reasonable idea of what I was in for. But, while I was in the same general area, I was in for a quite a lot of surprises (for one thing, the trailer connects audio and images which don't belong together in the movie).
This film was a lot of fun. It had a really good story which didn't always go in the direction you expected it to. And, while unlocking 90% of the brain's potential also seemed to give Eddie other powers - speed, vision, athleticism etc.), I never had too much trouble accepting that this was reasonable. All the cast played well and had fun. The direction was striking without being so flamboyant as to be overpowering. And I loved the ending.
This was another film which delivered more than I expected.