Lucy

Lucy

Starring Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Min-sik Choi, Amr Waked

Directed by Luc Besson

Synopsis:
Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is an American living in Taiwan who unwittingly becomes a drug mule for her new boyfriend, which lands her in hot water as she delivers a package to the ruthless Mr. Jang (Min-sik Choi).  Inside the package is a drug called CPH4, which he plans to market to European youth as the newest drug.

He places the drug in Lucy's stomach and sends her and three other mules around the world, but before she reaches her destination the drug accidentally releases inside her, which kick-starts her brain into using more than the "normal" 10%, making her an unstoppable, unemotional being with supreme intelligence.

She enlists the help of famed Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) to help understand what is happening to her, and what she can do with it.  Meanwhile, Mr. Jang pursues her, and she is aided by French policeman Del Rio (Amr Waked).  As she takes more of the drug, her brain reaches 100% usage, and we find out what a person can really do once they reach their full capacity.

Review:
"Lucy" is a pretty monumental undertaking, for sure.  A film that focuses on a person using their full brain power is something that really hasn't been done much before ("Limitless" comes to mind - and it's honestly much better).  While the first two-thirds of the film was an action packed intellectual thriller, it ultimately falls apart at the end, leaving the audience feeling cheated.  However, I understand that they had to end the film, and it seemed like director Luc Besson reached a wall where he had no idea how to end it.

Still, as I said, about 80% of the film is extremely well done, and even though it centers around an archaic and outdated philosophy (the whole "we only use 10% of our brain" theory), it still had a strong cast carrying it, which would've fallen apart if it were done by lesser actors.

On a side note, while watching the film, I thought this would've worked well with Angelina Jolie starring in it, and then I found out afterward that she was approached to do the film, but turned it down.

Back to the actors.  Scarlett Johansson, re-vitalized from her role as the Black Widow in the Marvel films, takes on her first action film as a lead, and delivers.  Her natural charisma and screen presence mixed in with her stunning looks and fighting ability holds the film together, and as stated before, if it were done by a lesser actor, it would've fallen apart.  Morgan Freeman can also do no wrong, making anything he says sounds completely believable and prolific.  He could read the phone book and it'd be nominated for an Oscar.  Not to mention adding his credentials as the host of the Science Channel's "Through the Wormhole," he adds a sense of believability to his performance.

As far as the concept is concerned, the whole "10%" idea is wholly flawed, but it still produced some thought-provoking questions and some interesting conversations after the film ends, when you find that "Lucy" seems nothing more than propaganda for Darwinism and evolution, which isn't bad on its own, but ultimately the ending throws the concept to a whole new meaning that I won't discuss because it would give the ending away.

Summary:
Led by two stellar actors, "Lucy" holds a commanding performance through most of the film, while unfortunately ending in an anti-climactic note.

My Rating: A-