Film Review – LUCY

Luc Besson’s Lucy starring Scarlett Johannson in the title role, is not going to challenge your brain or attempt to wow you with long winded dialogue for the sake of character development. But it will trace over some familiar superhero sci-fi territory with an impressive a bang for your buck pace and have you at the closing credits in less than 90 minutes.

At its core, Lucy tackles the question of what humanity could be capable of if 100% of our brains could be tapped into as opposed to the paltry 10% accessible to us now? Theoretically, the brain starts to really ramp up once we hit 20% usage (Dolphins do it), and apparently the sky’s the limit above that. Higher mental powers pretty much serve as super powers to us lower functioning humans. Telekinesis, mind reading,  control of electrical pulses and a lot of the cool Akira-worthy tricks.

You can either go with a bloated version of this not so original core concept and drag things on for over two hours. But director /screenwriter Besson (The Fifth Element, The Professional, La Femme Nikita) choses to hit the ground running with a tense set-up and then pretty much wipes his leading lady of her humanity shortly afterwards and sends her on a reluctant warpath for the next 75 minutes.

Lucy (Scarlet Johannson) is an American studying in Taipei, and unwillingly gets wrapped up in an international smuggling ring by her boyfriend of ten days Richard (Pilou Asbek). Shortly after meeting up in front of a hotel, Richard slaps a handcuff to her wrist which is attached to a metal suitcase and given no choice but to complete Richard’s shady “delivery” to the mysterious Jang (Choi Min-sik) in the nearby lobby.

She is taken prisoner by Jang and  forced to become a drug mule for a generous bag of the powerful blue crystalline CPH4, which is sewn into her abdomen for safe international transport. But when Lucy is assaulted by some local roughnecks, the drug leaks into her bloodstream and her brain goes into evolution overdrive.  Absorbing all the knowledge in front of her, she loses all that makes her human. Lucy assesses that she doesn’t feel pain and is aware of every cell in her body. She can access any memory from birth and tap into other people’s brains. Her body ultimately cannot withstand the expansion in 10% increments, so she must evolve.

Along the way she tracks down Professor Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman), a prominent figure when it comes to theories on her theoretical condition, and offers to pass on her knowledge. Lucy makes an ally in a Paris police man Pierre Del Rio (Amr Waked) who helps her elude Jang’s relentless pursuit, because he really wants his drugs back. Too bad he doesn’t know what he’s dealing with.  To give much more away would spoil the fun of her developing abilities as she works her way to 100% brain power. In Lucy’s case, the trailers wisely only hit the tip of the iceberg.  But rest assured, her accelerated brain power in the least makes her a flawless sharpshooter when she’s double fisting a pair of pistols and a Indy 500 caliber drag racer the first time she gets behind the wheel.

Lucy pretty much embodies what Neo would be if he walked among us in the real world and not in the Matrix. Besson takes the opportunity to throw in a few good gunfights, well staged special effects laded set pieces, signature tongue-in-cheek moments, questionable cutaways to documentary footage, and allows Johannson a prime opportunity to play an emotionless super powered drone.