Big Picture Big Sound

Get Smart

Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is a down-on-his-luck writer. Apparently, he has a book deal but, judging from his appearance - bedraggled hair, constant stubble, glassy eyes - he doesn't show much promise. At the opening of "Limitless", a frenetic thriller about a drug that unleashes your brain's full potential - Eddie is perched on the ledge of a roof, ready to end it all. There's a banging at his door - someone means to do him harm. Eddie is not in a good way.

Cut to some number of weeks earlier. As his constant voice-over informs us, Eddie coincidentally runs into his ex-brother-in-law, a former drug dealer who's still peddling. This time, though, the pill - a clear, innocuous tablet - is supposed to be FDA-approved. It unlocks that extra 80% of your brain that typically goes unused. Eddie, with nothing else to lose, is intrigued. No sooner does he dose than he's seeing the world with Sherlock Holmesian clarity and making in-roads with a financial tycoon, played with happily good form by Robert De Niro.

"Limitless" may not seem like a groundbreaking concept and, frankly, it isn't. Based on the novel "The Dark Fields" by Alan Glynn - not Philip K. Dick, as the premise might suggest - the actual plot of the film is fairly predictable. It's like "Wall Street" crossed with "Rain Man" hopped up on "Requiem for a Dream". At first blush, "Limitless" might seem like a vanity project for Mr. Cooper. And it is. But it's a good one. He possesses an innate - and rare - talent to convincingly flip between hapless Everyman and pretentious douchebag at the drop of a hat, while still retaining the sympathy of the audience.

But "Limitless" is really a declaration of intent for its director, Neil Burger. After such forgettable entries as "The Lucky Ones" and "The Illusionist", Mr. Burger stakes his claim as a force to be reckoned with. The key to making "Limitless" work is the way Mr. Burger depicts Eddie's transformation from a dull (in attitude and filmstock) loser to a mental dynamo. Witness the clever use of color, the kinetic dives through Manhattan's streets, or the way Eddie's ceiling tiles become stock quotes. This is exciting filmmaking. Like Tom Tykwer's "Run Lola Run" or Christopher Nolan's "Memento", "Limitless" gives you the sense that Mr. Burger's career - if he picks his projects carefully - is what's truly limitless.