Blu-ray Movie Reviews

It’s a long-held myth that the average human being can access only about 10 percent of their brain capacity at any given time. For me, it happens to be true, and that’s on a good day, but I digress. Now imagine if you could take a pill that would give you complete and total brain function. The possibilities would be, well, limitless.

This is a drug that’s so new it doesn’t even have a street name yet. This is life on fast forward, it’s David Fincher on acid, and it’s one hell of a ride. When the effect wears off, though, it’s straight back to Stupidville, and you’re royally screwed if your supply runs out. Bradley Cooper is the washed-up writer who happens upon the drug in a chance meeting, and his life takes some very drastic turns—for better and worse.

The film’s only drawback is its excessive dependence on voiceover narration. Too many films rely too heavily on it and have suffered. The key to avoiding the pitfall of redundancy in voiceover is to not give the viewer any information they’re not already getting through the dialogue and visuals. Some films, like Goodfellas, The Shawshank Redemption, and Fight Club, have not only succeeded at this but benefitted from it. Although Limitless tries, it isn’t quite worthy of getting the key to that executive washroom. It even tries to visually emulate Fight Club with its POV trips through the cerebral cortex and its hyperkinetic photography.

The HD picture is excellent. Off the drug, life is drab and colorless; hues are deliberately gray and bleak. On the drug, however, the visuals take a considerable jump in tint and sharpness. This is clarity squared, and the vistas are spectacular. Director Neil Burger creatively mixes different film stocks and speeds to achieve a varying degree of visual stimuli: hallucinatory ghosting effects and infinity zooms that appear to be endless. Colors are vivid and exciting, and Cooper has the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen. The DTS-HD Master Audio accentuates the drug’s chaotic effects when terabytes of information are dancing all around at a frenetic pace. Coupled with an aggressive rock score, the audio mix delights and engages the senses.

Extras include a feature-length audio commentary for the theatrical cut, a couple of short featurettes, an alternate ending, and the trailer. There’s also D-Box Motion Code capability and a Digital Copy how-to for those of you still new to the medium or stuck in Stupidville.

Ratings
Picture: 5
Sound: 4.5
Extras: 3
Interactivity: 3

Specs
Studio: 20th Century Fox, 2011
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audio Format: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Length: 105 mins.
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish