On-limits

Rating: 5/10 (18 February 2012)

A pounding and indeed relentless up-to-the-minute thriller with its own unique insight into the burn-out behind high-fliers in the finance world; apparently it's all due to a new, unofficially available pill which frees the mind. For Bradley Cooper's schmucky-loser, it becomes a life-changing revelation, making him immediately brilliant in business, an expert in self-defence and of course, a hit with the ladies. Cue lots of directorial devices, such as deep-perspective tracking shots, cut-up scenes and interspersing dialogue. It's a good premise for a sci-fi thriller and the first hour is great as Cooper embarks on his rags to riches trip, discovering the potency of the drug in his everyday life.
Unfortunately, it gets too silly from there on as he gets involved with a Slavic gangster who wants in on the act taking the last third into sub-Terminator territory with too much violence and gore and letting down the promise of what had gone before.
Cooper is good in what is basically a split-personality role, half strung-out waster, half suited and booted fast-talking whizz-kid. Robert DeNiro does his usual professional job as the biggest shark in the pool, reining in any Pacino-like excess and playing it straight. More could have been made of the slightly underwritten female parts which reaches some sort of nadir when Cooper's wife pops a pill to become Sigourney Weaver long enough to escape the bad guy in a tight spot.
In the final reckoning, if the writer and director had avoided the predilection for mindless violence, a modern-day parable about the excesses of capitalism albeit mixed up with a sci-fi and thriller ethos was within reach, but it really let itself down by pandering to the body-count requirement of teenagers who I guess put bums on seats.