'Limitless' reviewed

Bradley Cooper in Limitless. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/limitless/1394087/main?icid=mfm_poster

Seeing the preview in the theater attracted us to Limitless. I enjoyed this fast paced thriller. The story is certainly farfetched but it moves so quickly leaving you no time to ponder over its logic and message.

Bradley Cooper who's becoming a major leading man since the unexpected runaway success of The Hangover stars as a would be writer suffering from writer's bloc. The bill collectors are one step away and nothing he does gets him ahead. One day he meets his ex brother-in-law who offers him a pill that will change his life. His mental ability increases at a staggering rate with each dose, demonstrated by neat visual effects. He speedily finishes his novel in four days and develops other abilities like learning languages, playing music, and making financial killings that attract the attention of an arrogant Wall St. mogul played by Robert De Niro who brings him onto his team. His girlfriend who dumped him takes him back and now he's got the whole world waiting for his taking.

Cooper needs more pills not only to expand his mental powers but also to keep them, and there's the danger. Meanwhile he's pursued by a mysterious stranger and a brutal European loan shark who wants his pills, both men creating problems on his way to the top. Toss in an accusation of murder and the complications keep piling up as fast as the plot races.

Cooper's performance and narration hold the fantastic plot together. De Niro gives his usual good performance that steals almost every one of his scenes and has the best lines in the film spouting seasoned advice to his young novice.

This thriller also presents a halfhearted warning about the dangers of addiction as we learn the fate of others who depended on the drug. Will Cooper succumb to its lethal attraction or can he control it? Only the ending lets us know and what an ending! See if you think it's believable.... but remember, it's only a movie and good escapism fueled by wish fulfullment. Ah but if only there was such a drug......