Limitless

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish, Andrew Howard, Anna Friel.

Directed by: Neil Burger.

Rating: 7.5/10

THERE's a moment in this dazzlingly original, sharply observed movie when our hero Eddie Morra (Cooper) chastises the dress sense of the bodyguards he's just hired.

"Don't wear the same colour of suits," he advises. "This isn't The Matrix."

And clearly it's not, though it does invite some comparisons, as the knowing movie reference acknowledges.

Out-of-work writer Eddie Morra is drinking in the last chance saloon when he bumps into his shady former brother-in-law on the street. His long-suffering girlfriend (Cornish) has finally walked out on him and he hasn't come up with a single word for the book he's been given an advance to write.

In short, he's a self-confessed slob on a fast track to nowhere.

Sitting in a bar having a catch-up, the old brother-in-law plucks a shrink-wrapped pill from his pocket, a top secret drug, he says, which betstows super human abilities. To be specific, he says the drug - not yet through clinical trials (or anywhere near them, we later learn) - allows its user to access 100 per cent of their brain.

Eddie is suitably sceptical but, at a sufficiently low ebb, figures he has nothing to lose from giving it a pop. It'd cost him $800 when eventually manufactured, he's told. Right now, he doesn't have two beans to rub together and so he takes the proferred freebie.

The new, laser focused Eddie is as assured as any man alive. Suddenly, everything is crystal clear. He knows what he needs to do and he knows how to do it. The book is bashed out within days and proves to be an inspired bestseller.

Everything Eddie's read, heard or seen is instantly organized and available to him. As the former nobody rises to the top of the financial world, he draws the attention of business mogul Carl Van Loon (De Niro), who sees him as a tool to make billions.

But quicker than you can say "side effects", a darker side to the wonder drug becomes apparent. First, it seems Eddie's not the only one in on the secret. Second, he has a homicidal loan shark maniac (Andrew Howard) on his tail, a man whose persuasive techniques include flaying his victims alive.

Former Brookside starlet Anna Friel's cameo is brief but no less significant than the part played by the once great Robert De Niro. He's sent himself up so often in the Meet the Fockers series that it's now hard to take him seriously.

Limitless is marked out from the pack by some highly original imaging sequences which help illustrate the processes at work. In this respect, it's a bit like The Matrix but stripped of all the gobbledegook. And that's definitely a good thing. Thought-provoking and entertaining with enough credibility-stretching moments to keep it entertaining and fun.

In short, well worth a gander.

* Limitless is being screened at Vue Cinema in Inverness. For screening times and listing of other films, see www.myvue.com