Lucy

 

I have always been a fan of Scarlett Johansson but I never really viewed her as being strong enough to carry a film on her own.  Lucy was her opportunity to prove she can be a credible Box Office draw without the backing of a Marvel ensemble and I was cheering her on with great enthusiasm.

PLOT:  After a dangerous delivery job goes awry Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is forced to carry a new drug back to America in her stomach.  On route she is attacked by her captors and the bag bursts leaking the drug into her system.  The drug causes Lucy to unlock her brains full capacity and turns her into the X-Men.  Lucy seeks help from Professor Morgan Freeman.  END PLOT

The world is filled with made-up science and it forms part of our everyday lives.  The science in films can be as ridiculous or far-fetched as it chooses but the trick to Hollywood Science is to sell it to an audience who are actively daring the filmmakers to screw it up.  The science in Lucy is daft but it does try to give it some credence by asking Morgan Freeman to narrate it.  A commendable effort and it would have worked if the film didn’t dedicate quite so much screen time to it.

The decision to weave Professor Norman’s lecture alongside Lucy’s cerebral development was a decent idea but it was overkill especially as we had already sat through the horribly ill-conceived jungle cat stalking a deer scenes.  Obvious foreshadowing is obvious.  If the film focused solely on Lucy's story rather than trying to give us a science lesson it would have been over in 45mins. 

Aside from trying to be too clever with the science Lucy is great fun.  Scarlett Johansson is gorgeous and has this wonderful ability to underact which worked very well when Lucy started to distance herself from humanity.  As Lucy gradually morphed into Dr Manhattan (sans swinging blue penis) Johansson’s natural aloofness worked a treat.

 

No matter how intelligent the film tried to be the main villain was nothing stronger than a bad guy in a suit who spent his time bossing his goons around.  This was an unforgiveable waste of the wonder Min-sik Choi’s talent.  If you have an actor of his calibre let him unlock a scientifically calculated percentage of it.

 

The main problem with the film is that it took itself far too seriously.  If a bit of fun had of been injected into the proceedings Lucy could have been a much stronger film.  Overall Lucy was good old-fashioned, leave your brain at the door, nonsense. On occasion this is perfectly acceptable.  6/10.