Movie Review: Lucy

Rated R

90 minutes

Directed by Luc Besson

No personal connection with this one. Just looked cool and I wanted to see it. Nothing deep. Sorry.

Lucy is a film about the titular character (Scarlett Johansson), a 25 year old probable bimbo who gets roped into a transaction by her cowboy boyfriend that goes south quick. She gets blue drugs shoved into her stomach and is ready to bring it to the villains' henchmen when the drug starts leaking in her stomach and it starts infecting her body (it's an alternative to straws, druggies). The drugs give her super-powers like human sonar, changing hair color, and fast typing. Meanwhile, Morgan Freeman looks shocked and explains science.

Lucy's fine. It's nothing to write home about, but it's certainly fun to watch. There isn't a lot of action, but the amount there is quite honestly really good. It looks great, with a kind of professional sheen that I don't normally think of when I think of Besson (I haven't seen a lot of his movies, but I think I'm right in my assumption). There isn't any "will they/won't they" tension between any two characters, as there easily could've been, instead focusing on the fact that Lucy is slipping away from humanity because of these drugs. It was nice and short, as it was starting to overstay its welcome from time to time. And, it was small scale and simple, no world domination tactics or anything. 

As I mentioned before, it overstays its welcome occasionally, with brief periods of lulls where nothing was happening. There are instances where Lucy could've used powers she demonstrated beforehand, but instead, doesn't do it so that the final climax can both happen and continue. An asset in any film is Morgan Freeman, but all he does is gawk. There's a bit where Lucy's wanted by the authorities in Japan, and the film makes a big deal of it. But instead of following through, it just gets dropped. And the final battle makes no sense at some points, with things that were big deals just get forgotten about. 

The ending... ay ay ay. When the film ends, you feel confused, because the final 10 minutes were just so different and off the walls from the other 80 minutes beforehand. But upon reflection, you realize that it's rather straight forward and there was nothing to be confused about. But upon even more reflection, you realize that it isn't cut and dry, but the film just leaves you with a feeling of "What the fox was that?" And that's just after 10 hours of reflection. Who knows where I'll be after a week of thought. Probably just at the same place I am now though. Oh well. 

Go see it I guess. Or not, I'm not your boss. I liked it, take that for what it means. Ok bye now.

3/5

C+