Lucy (2014)

Director: Luc Besson

Story: Luc Besson

Cast: Scarlett Johannsson, Morgan Freeman

Music: Éric Serra

Time: 90 minutes

Bottom-line: Nonsensical, but fun

Humans can, at the most, use up to 10% of their brain capacity.

This popular myth is the underlying theme for this science-fiction thriller Lucy. Starring Scarlett Johannsson, Morgan Freeman and Choi Min-sik, the film intrigues us with the possibility of exploration of the human brain, but also goes way off-course with its nonsensical stunts and superhero-like action.

Life was given to us a billion years ago. What have we done with it? (opening line)

Lucy (Johannsson) is an American woman studying in Taipei. Tricked into working as a drug mule, she is forced to deliver a case to a Korean mob boss, Mr. Jang (Min-sik), containing four packets of CPH4, a synthetic drug. Herself and three others have one bag sewn into their abdomen to transport to different parts of Europe. However, an injury causes Lucy’s bag to break open, releasing the drug into her blood. This gives her abilities like telekinesis, mental time travel and she now feels no pain or desire or emotion. She is able to remember everything and also control devices. Meanwhile we come to know about the myth through Professor Norman (Freeman), and we realise that Lucy’s brain is developing far beyond the expected 10%. This gives her more and more power but lesser time to live. With Jang hot on pursuit, how does Lucy use her gifted powers, as her life clock ticks away?

 

Johannsson as Lucy

Life was given to us a billion years ago. Now you know what to do with it. (closing line)

Scarlett Johannsson does quite well for an action hero (she also plays Black Widow in both the Avengers movies), and with knives, guns and lot of special effects, her character Lucy is one to look out for! First she plays an ordinary human, petrified when she notices the doings of Jang. Later she plays a “superhero” with exceptional mind-control powers, with barely any emotion or feeling. Morgan Freeman has a very small role to play; I think they used a veteran actor just so that the viewers would pay attention to the science he talks about (else all eyes on Johannsson obviously!!).  

Freeman as Prof Norman

The visual effects are amazing; look out for the visuals shown towards the end when Lucy reaches almost a 100%. The story is, as I said, intriguing at first; however, after a point her powers seem to be too exaggerated; while it is impossible to predict what would happen if we could use even 25% of our brain capacity (assuming the myth is true), I doubt anyone can do the stuff that Lucy does. But that’s the fun bit of the film I guess. I would have liked it better if the focus was more on the science part rather than the action, making it more of a serious watch than an action flick. The ending is poor; there are a few loose ends, and it was too abrupt.

While the storyline needs a lot of work, the acting by Johannsson is quite impressive. The effects are good and few selected scenes are worth watching. But overall, a poorly made film.

My Rating: 2/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 67%