Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is struggling writer who hasn't written a word of the book he has taken an advance for.  His girlfriend (Abbie Cornish) breaks up with him.  Then Eddie bumps into Vernon,  the brother of his ex-wife.  Vernon introduces Eddie to a brain enhancer drug called NZT- a drug that makes the user able to access the full power of their brain.   After Vernon is murdered, Eddie steals Vernon's stash and uses NZT to finish his novel and make lots of money on the stock market.  He catches the attention of Carl Van Loon (Robert DeNiro), a powerful supervisor of a top energy firm.   Also Eddie is being chased by a mysterious man.    Soon Eddie learns being at the top has consequences and NZT may have some side effects.

LIMITLESS is a paranoid thriller that is almost perfect except it tries to be too neat and make it explainable to everyone.   I did find the thread about other people who might be using NZT to be interesting.   Bradley Cooper is a charming actor who catches the charm and paranoia of Eddie in equal lengths.  LIMITLESS shows you Eddie's world before NZT and on NZT.   Does it change him for the better?   Would a drug like NZT make you better or change you from the person people once recognized?

It has some interesting twists and turns.  Yet I don't like the flashback to what came before to catch up where the movie started out in addition to how they too neatly wrap things up in the end.   It would have been more daring if the film didn't leave it neat at the end and took even more risks.

The unrated version is the same length as the PG-13 theatrical version.   The DVD art says unrated and extended which isn't the truth.  The unrated version is the R rated version of LIMITLESS.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Audio commentary with director Neil Burger is the director talking about the story and no insight on the making of the film

A MAN WITHOUT LIMITS- a four minute featurette on the film and how Bradley Cooper's character looks in the film

TAKING IT TO THE LIMIT: THE MAKING OF LIMITLESS- the DVD says the featurette is on the DVD, but it is nowhere to be found

The alternate ending isn't very surprising- the theatrical ending is better and leaves more to the viewer to decide.   Also included is the theatrical trailer.

FINAL ANALYSIS:   LIMITLESS is a good paranoid thriller with a magnetic turn from Bradley Cooper.

this DVD review is (c)7-22-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com