Drugs on Wall Street

Directed by Neil Burger, whose previous output includes The Illusionist, Limitless is based on a book by Alan Glynn. The film sees Bradley Cooper as vagabond writer Eddie Morra; struggling with writers block and  an ending relationship. Morra crosses paths with an old acquaintance who offers the opportunity to overcome these problems through the power of an experimental drug called NZT. The drug increases brain capacity to 100% and allows the user full access to memories, capability and hidden knowledge. Morra uses this new -found competence to impress his on/off girlfriend, landlords wife and employers among others but things take a turn for the expected when Morra notices he is being followed by a cast of undesirables. As his encounters with this bunch become more and more worrying Morra's supplies run low and the reason for their connection moves towards revelation in intriguing fashion.

Robert De Niro also stars as ruthless businessman Carl Van Loon. Another below par performance which is almost what we have come to expect in recent years. A character who should have been menacing was instead mildly assuming; like an unreasonable father in law or strict headmaster. Van Loon is a Gordon Gekko-lite who is focusing on furthering his commercial interests. The problem is that De Niro is not able to recreate the impact of Michael Douglas' character. Shia Labeouf was originally cast in the lead role which would have lead further to the feelings that Limitless is only slightly more than Wall Street on drugs. Wall Street 2 suffered from its poor timing meaning that it missed the recession boat and Limitless struggles with the fact that we don't hate Eddie Morra as much as we do the bankers.This is due to Morra's human side coming through throughout the early stages of the film. Although he is sucked into the 'high-life' we retain some glad tiding towards the protagonist as it is easy to follow his decision making process and relate it to our own.

Cooper's portrayal of the protagonist, although convincing, does lack the manic paranoia of the drug addict, particularly during the stages of withdrawal. Since his breakthrough performance in The Hangover, Cooper has become a box office draw, following up his initial success with The A Team amongst others. Cooper is capable of portraying both the down and out writer and high flying financial adviser with equal success.

Limitless lacks that smartness and sleekness the NZT has given Eddie Morra and, although the fish eye lenses and clever shots of the city are impressive to the eye, there is not much to stimulate the brain. Feeling at times like a diluted Inception, Limitless would have benefited from a more intricate plot with further twists and suspense but thats just my opinion and others may enjoy the easily followed narrative.

The film moves along almost exactly as you would expect. The only surprising factor is the lack of a moral conclusion. Instead of leaving the cinema with an understanding that if something seems too good to be true it probably is, I left wondering how long it would be before NZT would be available to you and me. Just think how many film reviews I could get through in a day.

Limitless? I would say limited but enjoyable.

Official Site - http://www.iamrogue.com/limitless/fullsite/