Walking down the street one day, he bumps into his former brother-in-law, Vernon Gant (Johnny Whitworth) and the two have a drink and swap stories. Apparently, Eddie's ex-wife, Melissa (Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies) has dropped off the face of the earth, but Vernon has stopped dealing drugs and is now a "pharmaceutical consultant." Seeing how low Eddie is at the moment, he offers him a drug called NZT that will fix him right up - FDA approved and everything, just not quite on the market yet. He says the drug will allow him to utilize all of his brain's capacity and will surely give him the creative push he needs to get his book written. Eddie is hesitant, but later takes NZT and is shocked by how he feels. Not trippy, just able to absorb everything around him and to recall everything he's ever seen or heard in his life. Naturally, he is back on Vernon's door for more, but when he finds Vernon dead and his place trashed, he calls the police. Once he realizes the killer may have been looking for the NZT, he is able to locate Vernon's stash and a nice pile of cash and he thinks his luck may have just turned.
Eddie begins taking the pills on a daily basis and finishes his incredible book in four days. He gets himself cleaned up, starts playing the stock market and learning new languages effortlessly. Soon, he is making powerful friends; after all, he is the life of the party and able to speak intelligently on any subject. He finds his small stock earnings aren't enough to satisfy him and he takes out a loan for $100,000 from a very dangerous Russian mobster, Gennady (Andrew Howard). The money starts rolling in and even Lindy is back in his life. Soon, Eddie's Wall Street prowess begins to catch the eye of some powerful people, namely Carl Van Loom (Robert De Niro), financial powerhouse. Van Loon wants Morra's take on an enormous merger he is working on with another large company whose CEO seems to have come out of nowhere in the last few years.
Before long, Eddie finds himself being followed by a strange man in a tan overcoat (Tomas Arana) and the man even endangers Lindy at one point, stopping at nothing to get his hands on Eddie's stash. Gennady soon wants a piece of the NZT pie and Van Loon is not happy with Eddie and the state of the merger. Eddie begins taking the pills at a faster rate in the hopes of getting on top of the situation, but things spiral out of control. He soon realizes that the wolves are at his heels from every direction and there seems to be no way out, even with the help of his precious pills, which are now taking a physical toll on his health. Can he work his way out of the web of deceit before he loses everything he has built up, including his life?
Directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist), Limitless is a visual feast. As Eddie's brain takes everything in at a rapid pace, the viewer is treated to seeing things through his eyes. Numbers appear in the air and arrange themselves, tunnel vision seems to go at lightning speed, and everything is lighter, more colorful and crisp when Eddie is on NZT. Prior to Gant and NZT entering Eddie's life, everything was dirty, drab and monotone, so it was a nice, stark contrast between the two time periods in his life. Bradley Cooper is perfect as Eddie Morra. He looks dirty, rumpled and pathetic early on in the file (yeah, I never thought Bradley Cooper could look bad either, but he does), but once he is on NZT, he looks slick, charming and dashing. De Niro is De Niro, a powerful man that you don't want to cross and he plays his role to perfection. Abbie Cornish does a good job as Eddie's confused on and off again girlfriend and Anna Friel is great, even though her role is small. Andrew Howard as Gennady was quite chilling and he really played his part well.
Limitless: Unrated Extended Cut includes both the Theatrical Release and the Unrated Extended Cut of the film and, aside from a little nudity, there wasn't a difference. In fact, the times for both are identical and, really, the scenes are the same, just edited a bit differently. An alternate ending is included that really changes the feel of the end and, while I was glad to have seen it, I really preferred the way they chose to go initially; It worked best for the film. There are also two featurettes, a short one on Eddie's character on NZT and a making-of, which was fun. There were a lot of trials with shooting in New York and Philadelphia, but the filmmakers still managed to pull off an amazing film. Finally, Neil Burger offers Audio Commentary.
If you are debating over DVD and Blu-ray, this film simply pops in Blu-ray. There are lush scenes in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and city scapes in New York that are simply beautiful. Even Cooper's amazing blue eyes seem more lustrous. Surround Sound is really incorporated well here because as Eddie's mind expands to encompass everything, we hear every little thing that's going on around him, as well.
I expected to enjoy Limitless as a popcorn action flick, but it was a treat to watch and I loved Burger's visual style throughout the film. It even wraps up with an excellent ending, so what more could you want? Highly recommended.
