Lucy, is the new action thriller from director Luc Besson and stars Scarlett Johansson as a woman studying in Taipei, who incidentally gets captured and forced to test a new drug which enhances more of the brains capacity, as humans currently only use 10%. As Lucy unlocks more of her brain's capacity she in turn becomes more powerful and can be a Jedi it seems and use force like powers to move objects and change her surroundings. Morgan Freeman plays a scientist who is researching the brain and it's usage and how it can be expanded and potentially become more powerful and his and Lucy character come together to stop the drug from getting into the wrong hands.
Besson has previously produced a number of action films such as the Transporter series, Hitman, Colombiana and the Taken franchise. He also directed The Fifth Element, a classic sci-fi starting Bruce Willis. The man has plenty of experience with creating an action film. And from the way the film looks, this is definitely the case. The film looks very sleek and crisp has been shot with care and attention. The editing is flawless so there is a very consistent tone throughout. The film is very fast paced, similar to Taken, so you're kept on your toes with plenty of action sequences to satisfy the adreneline. Scarlett Johansson's performance is excellent. She is charming whilst being an absolute badass for 90mins. You buy that she is a killing machine, firing guns left, right and centre at all the bad guys. Pretty heavenly. She has been on a big roll the last couple of years with films such as Under the Skin, Don Jon and Captain America : The Winter Solider. She is proving to be a top actress. I don't fancy her at all by the way....
Lucy whilst being entertaining, does have many glaring problems which can't be glossed over with a hot girl with guns. Firstly there is no clear plot. I really tried hard to figure out why certain scenes were happening to advance the story but it's so confusing and nonsensical, that it really forces you out of the film to the point of not caring. On the subject of not caring, the main character Lucy. She's too overpowered too quickly so within the first 30mins, she really could have instantly killed all the bad guys (they don't have any development as characters, they are just bad guys) and that would have been game set and match. After her brain goes over 20% you really don't care about Lucy because not once after she's has the drug is she ever in any real danger. Even the biggest action characters in cinema e.g. John McClane, Indiana Jones are always at some point up against the odds and that's why you get behind them characters, you want them to fight back.
Another big problem is the science involved. If anybody who has an interest in science and goes to watch the film, they will harp on that the 10% brain capacity idea is a complete myth and it's utter nonsense. I don't think I would have had a problem with that aspect of the film but for some reason, somebody decided to include these wildlife clips from a David Attenborough documentary, which came across as trying to be too clever and completely took me out of the film. It didn't look stylish at all, it completely missed the mark. A poor decision. Morgan Freeman plays Morgan Freeman. It could have been any actor but he did what he had to do. It's the same role as he had in Transcendence earlier this year. The film is also too much like the film Limitless with Bradley Cooper which was released in 2011. It's a very similar plot idea which Limitless executes better as an all round film.
Lucy is such a polarising film. It has some brilliant aspects such as Scarlett Johansson's acting and the well crafted action scenes but there are so many problems, that it really affects the film on a huge scale. The issues just anchor the film from what could have been a fun and exciting summer action thriller. But annoyingly this isn't the case.
5/10
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