Lucy

10% of nothing, turned into something

A young college party animal named Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is captured and used as a drug mule against her will, transporting a new drug that unlocks the potential of our brain's full capacity. The bag opens in her body and gives her superpowers. That is about all there is to this movie.

Okay, so to fully appreciate anything from this movie you have to forget anything you know about the small bit of pseudo-science this film is based on. The myth that humans only use 10% of their brain is starting to become an unsettling go to premise for movies. It got popular with "Phenomenon," then died, then came back with "Limitless" (which is basically what this movie is, but with more superpowers). People, I am going to ask you to do something for me, and it may be hard but please hear me out. Don't forget that the theory of humans only using 10 percent of their brain is made up and has no basis in actual science. At all. No matter what these movie's tell you it is false science. Now that we are past that, let's get on with this.

So, here we go. In order for me to fully appreciate this movie for what it was I had to get into a mind set that these superpowers weren't coming from Lucy unlocking the potential of her brain; but, in fact were the result of the weird drug used to give ordinary people superpowers in the comic "The Boys" (read that comic, it is fun). After that when they started marking her progression with different percentages I had to think of it as her unlocking the full power of the drug, and the percentage was marking a new power every time. After I did that and the movie was over I have to say I enjoyed that film. Without the basic premise having no basis in science this movie was actually very science friendly, taking us on a journey through the universe and time (time is big in this movie). I was surprised by how much this film actually seemed to like science and knowledge in spite of it's main arc. Was this an amazing movie? not really, but it was still good if we can think of the premise as something else. It wasn't really the story line that won me over as much as everything else.

Had to add this picture because I know what you want obviously 

In a recent review (very recent, "Hercules") I basically said that the director of the movie doesn't know how to direct action. Which is still true, but luckily this review is of a movie that is directed by someone that seems to be a master of action. Luc Beeson is the mind that gave us "La Femme Nikita" and "The Fifth Element." He is mainly a notable director for those movies, but more notable as a writer giving us many of the classic action cliche stories. So I can say with some clarity that the action in this was an absolute joy to watch. The car chases were fun and exciting, the telekinesis fights would make Jean Grey jealous, and (of course) Scarlett Johansson is made out to be the female/American version of Jet Li. It does well as one of the movies that give young women a strong role model (knowledge is power and girls can kick ass too) while also appealing to men (without having to have a hundred shots of Scarlett in her bra and panties, just the one).

Now let's go into something I found weird, but enjoyable. The pace and production. The pace was all sped up, kind of feeling like they were racing to get to the end of the movie; but, I guess since this all takes place in the span of a few days and time is big deal in this movie the pacing makes sense. The production felt so close to "French snuff film" I could practically taste the on-set baguettes. This isn't a bad thing, just a weird choice for an American blockbuster. The shots of our actors being interrupted with videos of nature and their voices narrating them (of course this was going to happen, Morgan Freeman) was interesting. The splicing takes a bit of getting used to but overall it enhanced the film. The audience in the theater had a big laugh at the National Geographic style animal sex and childbirth, but I liked it in spite of all the hooting from the monkeys in the theater.

The acting in this was also weird, but enjoyable for some of the actors (in fact that is my general opinion of the entire movie) , but par for the course with others. Morgan Freeman is still the intellectual, slow spoken, soothing man he has been type cast as in dozens of other movies. Scarlett Johansson does well at portraying the lack of emotions having unlimited knowledge would ultimately bring her. In fact, I am starting to think that Scarlett may be our next great actress with the way her characters are differing lately, especially in this. She starts off as an average party girl, but ends up an emotionless think tank. She is starting to become a chameleon and I just hope that directors can see that side of her, instead the obvious other appealing qualities. The rest of the cast are set pieces, but do well where they are able to do well. Min-Sik Choi is a good gangster and Amr Waked is a good cop.

The last appealing concept to me was the music (yes, I know I hate talking about the music in movies). At the risk of being redundant, it was weird, but enjoyable. Actually, let us scratch that statement. It was weird, but kind of awesome. Like an electronic dance floor brought to life, and it directly mirrored the cool graphics in the movie. You'll see a lot of blue in this movie, and that is what this music kind of made me think of. A blue light show in a Las Vegas or a blue dance floor.

The main thing that we have to take home from this movie is that a flawed premise does not always mean a flawed movie. I know I am going to have some people that disagree with me about the premise being flawed, but even more people that disagree with me about the movie not being flawed because of it. It was entertaining in a basic sense, appealing to my baser instincts. Gun shooting is cool, car chases are cool, superpowers are cool ("Me Dustin, like stupid action. Ugh. Ugh.") It is also progressive for having an awesome character base, and being a friend to knowledge ("knowledge is power", "The more you know"). I hope to see a better version of this without the crappy premise.

Final Verdict: Rent it It won't be winning any Oscar's, but it is worth a buck. If nothing more, you can get your mindless violence quota for the day from this.