An excellent sci-fi thriller that takes you to the limit

Rating: 10/10 (24 March 2011)

Limitless is for me one of the most original and best sci-fi thrillers to come out in years. This tells the story of first off dishevelled writer Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) who lounges in his small messy apartment trying to start his latest novel but unable to do as he suffers from writers block. He is like this for weeks, which turns into months where his current girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) ends their relationship because of the way he is. By chance on the street Eddie ends up running into his ex-wife's brother Vernon (Johnny Whitworth) who previously dealt in drugs but now works as a consultant for a pharmaceutical company. He offers Eddie a chance to sort his life out by offering him a drug MDT that can access one hundred percent of his brain instead of just the normal human capacity of twenty per cent. He takes it and develops super-human powers where he finds he can finish his book in a speed he never thought before. When the drug runs out in his system, he goes back to Vernon for more but finds he's dead. He then takes the rest of his stash and starts living the high life of being brilliant at everything like he can speak any language and is an expert at finances and the stock market. Due to this he ends up working for Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro). As Eddie continues taking the drug he starts to develop problems like the drug's side effects and the fact a drug dealer wants the drug to take and sell to his customers.
This film really does take you to the limit with an interesting premise. If you had a chance to take MDT to get what you wanted in life would you? If you wanted to do something you knew you could never achieve and taking that drug would help you get it, would you? This concept is explored well to an extent as we start to see Eddie lose control of himself. The thing is it would have been better if the film had gone further. How was MDT created? Who created it? What are it's exact ingredients? But despite this I still absolutely loved this film. Apart from a great story as I said with an interesting premise, it is fantastically shot with some very interesting and unconventional camera shots (particular at the opening credits) which makes it refreshingly different. The pace and tone of the film flew by in terms of some gripping action sequences and plot developments. This had the great notion for me of there never being a dull moment as it developed into unexpected directions. The script was smart and quick-whipped throughout, the music was excellent and the acting was superb particularly by Bradley Cooper who was really convincing in his role with a terrific supporting performance from De Niro and Abbie Cornish who made the most of the little time she had on screen.
I loved this film from start to finish as it was terrifically entertaining. Originally I wasn't going to see this but I changed my mind and I'm glad I did. Limitless is the fourth best movie I have seen this year. And I am pleased with the 7.4 IMDb rating it has received so far though it should be higher. Saying that not everyone will like this film, but I did. Just see this for yourself and make up your own mind. But for me it took me and reached it's limit.