Lucy

                Luc Besson is one of the most…intriguing director/writers I’ve seen in Hollywood. Not that he’s a bad film maker, although films like “Lockout,” “From Paris With Love,” and the “Arthur and the Invisibles Trilogy” could prove me otherwise, but tends to have many ideas he wants to put in films, yet has a hard time keeping it in check. Thankfully, he has plenty of films that have worked like “The Fifth Element,” “Taken,” “The Family,” and “Leon: The Professional” showcasing that he is capable of making it work. And today, we take a look at Besson’s newest film, “Lucy.”

                The film tells of a young woman named Lucy, who is tricked into delivering a new type of drug that allows the human mind to access 100% of their brain, as opposed to the usually 10% we normally use. The deliveries are made by surgically inserting the bag into her body, but the bag soon gets opened from an injury, resulting in the drugs entering her bloodstream. Now with her mind absorbing knowledge and all kinds of new abilities, she has only 24 hours to get the remaining drugs back, and get her knowledge to the people who are studying this phenomenon.

                “Lucy” is a strange case of a film, as it has so many inventive ideas and structure going on, yet in the end it doesn't seem to find a proper footing for itself. It makes it difficult for me to talk about whether the film’s good or bad, without sounding like I’m just rambling. The best way I can describe this movie, is it’s a lot like how “Transcendence” turned out, having a good premise and ideas, but with an execution that isn’t up to par; hell, both films even have Morgan Freeman in them.

                Scarlett Johansson as the titular character, when the film was starting out, had shown the shift in tone from a ditzy blond to one so smart that she can’t feel pain or any kind of emotion; and to the film’s credit, this really did start to get me invested in her arc in the first act. Hell, that scene of her talking to her mother, saying how she’s suddenly remembering everything that happened in her life from the day she was a fetus, was actually quite touching. However, what ruins the tension is the fact that when they’re on this pursuit for the remaining drugs and facing the dealers, it isn't much of a struggle due to one detail: using more than 30% apparently gives you telekinesis. That means that Lucy is practically a superhero, so it’s hard to have that much sympathy for her, especially when they confirmed that she’ll be dead within 24 hours of the drug entering her system. The best way I can describe this is…Neo in “The Matrix,” going into the sequels afterwards. You see him in this a weaker state, only for him to become like this super being that can basically do almost anything. Hell, there’s even a scene in the film where her cop friend, played by Amr Waked, asked why she should bother keeping him with her, since she’s capable of doing pretty much everything on her own. Her response is “you’re a reminder.” A reminder for what? Humanity? If that was it, then why didn’t you just say that?

                Choi Min-sik, the guy from the original “Oldboy,” plays the drug-lord, Jang. And to his credit, he’s good with what he’s given…but that’s all he is in the film, a drug lord. Hell, we don’t even know what his backstory is, or how he was able to get such a drug like this. Was it an experimental drug that he was finally going to release to the public? How did he acquire such a drug? Question like these are never answered throughout this film.

                With all the ideas and questions behind it all, it’s hard for me to recommend this film, because of all the bat-shit insane executions that Besson gives them, which was the opposite effect that “Transcendence” had. I felt like if a different director had handled Besson’s script, it could have turned out to be a really calculative gem. However, that’s not the case. Is “Lucy” the worst film of the year? No, I’ve seen FAR worse. Is it the best? Not by a long-shot. Maybe if you can catch the film at a discount, Netflix, Redbox, or TV, then I’d say check it out. Maybe you might get a different response.

Rating: 4/10