Lucy

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Min-sik Choi, Amr Waked, Julian Rhind-Tutt
Directed by: Luc Besson
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Science Fiction, Thriller
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A woman (Scarlett Johansson) is abducted and used to transfer an experimental drug. When it is accidentally loosened into her system, it goes to work on her brain, increasing her mental capacity far beyond the normal human.

Review:

Tim: A great deal of your opinion of Lucy depends on your willingness to look past the absolutely inaccurate science in the film. The whole film is based on information that is totally and completely wrong. For the sake of entertainment, I was able to suspend my judgment a bit.

The whole film is based around the idea that humans only use 10% of their mental capacity. This is totally inaccurate and not true in the least. So, in some ways, the whole movie is pointless because it starts from a completely false place. However, the idea of human beings being able to tap into greater mental capacity is an interesting one. The idea of using all our mental capacity might be bogus, but what if we could increase that total capacity? Some of the rest of the film would still be interesting as a thought exercise. That's the mental framework I tried to keep in mind as I watched the film.

What I liked about the film is how far writer/director Luc Besson pushed this idea. The easy thing would have been to have Lucy's increased mental capacity help her become a deadly killer as she seeks revenge on those who wronged her. That's a very shortsighted approach, but one many filmmakers would have pursued. Instead, Besson really asks a lot of the audience, as an action thriller takes on increasingly more science fiction ideas. The film at least attempts to explore what it means to be a human, what our mortality means for us, and what is the nature of the universe? Sure, the film doesn't have much original or truly thought provoking to say, but at least it tried to be more than your typical action thriller and I really appreciated that. The end of the film really pushes our limits as it goes full-sci-fi with some pretty crazy sequences. Yes, I wish these were a bit better, but they were pretty entertaining nonetheless.

Scarlett Johansson did a good job of transforming her character as the film went on. She has a few scenes early on where she establishes the normalcy of her character. Once the drug enters her system, it's great fun to see the immediate change. As Lucy's use of her total brain capacity increases, she loses a lot of what we'd call humanity and embraces a colder, more logical, almost computer-like persona. I feel like there's some truth in that. The more our brain focuses on the logic and analytical side, the more our emotions could get pushed aside. I thought Johansson did a good job throughout the film. Morgan Freeman was a nice addition. While anyone could have played that role, his presence was a welcome one and it added to the overall film.

Now, if someone sat down to watch Lucy and ended up hating it, I could totally sympathize with that reaction. The fake science the film uses is pretty annoying and one would be completely justified in dismissing the whole movie because of that. I wouldn't argue with you. For me personally, I was okay with the stupid inaccuracies because it allowed us to go on this crazy trip. I liked that Lucy could have been a normal action thriller with a hint of science fiction, but ends up trying to be so much more. I also really liked the decision to make the protagonist a woman. Hollywood is way too male-skewed, especially when it comes to action movies. We need more films where females are the strong leads. I loved that this film was willing to take numerous chances. Maybe I liked the movie too much, but I had a fun time with it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Professional, Limitless