LIMITLESS

It's all there in the title - a concept that could either delve deep into the darkness of man's soul when boundaries and inhibitions are removed... or we could just watch them do a thriller to entertain the mass multiplex audiences so as to make some money.

With art imitating life, Cooper plays a man who leaps from off the radar to the man everyone, whether they want to or not, sees in a short space of time (lets face it, before "The Hangover" and "The A-Team" who'd heard of him?) His smile and cock-sure personality that helped with his "A-Team" role work wonders when he's jacked up on the pill that accesses all 100% of his brain rather than the quoted 20% we normally use, but at the beginning when he's the down-and-out writer that his long-suffering girlfriend has to leave, is less so convincing.

Director Burger decided to have fun with this project as opposed to Oscar-baiting and it shows hugely throughout the first half of its running time. You may start to think that he watched "Fight Club" several times or hours of MTV before calling "action" as not only does he give Cooper the role of narration (like Norton but not as good), but he tries every camera trick, real and CGI'd, in the book to heighten the plot and experience. Some are eye-catching - the ceiling that turns into a train-style departure board full of letters; multiple Cooper's working together to tidy up his apartment - but his excessive use of them means that when the camera is static and the characters are trying to explain plot points and move everything forward, the movie feels alittle slow and dull.

Undeniably entertaining, you will only feel let down if you prefer more meat-on-the-bone in your movies, or if you're a American TV show fan - it goes from being "Chuck" even to the extent of knowing how to engage an opponent successfully, to an ending that would have been not out of place on an "The X-Files" or "Fringe" episode.

UK release date: 25.03.11
Certificate: 12A