Limitless (2011)

Rating: 7/10 (8 March 2012)

Limitless is the kind of film that asks you, what would you do in this far fetched but entertaining situation? Bradley Cooper plays Eddie Morra, a struggling writer that has been procrastinating for months. He stumbles across his ex-brother-in-law and is eventually offered a new kind of drug. This drug allows you to access every last part of your brain, allowing you to recall things you saw years ago, and just having the drive to succeed. You only have to hear things once for you to remember it. Of course it isn't all fun and games. Morra soon finds he is skipping large parts of his day, with no idea of what happened, and when he tries to lay off the drugs he becomes immensely sick. This is a story about trying to find an easy fix to life's problems. Morra could easily finish his book if he just encouraged himself to do so. His antics spin wildly out of control, and as others latch on to his secret he becomes wrapped up in a world of money, deception, sex and even murder. Limitless really wants you to think about its premise which it does so effectively. I also enjoyed the fact it didn't try and weigh itself down with scientific "facts". It just gives you the idea and you can except it or not. There did seem to be a push at the end to really make this more action packed than it needed to be, but this is the kind of clever science fiction that I like. Part Twilight Zone, and part real life.