Lucy (2014)

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nTitle: Lucy (2014)

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nDirector: Luc Besson

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nCast: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Min-Sik Choi

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nThey are calling Lucy a “Stoner Film” and I would have tonagree, the film does have an emphasis on abstract visuals, sometimes goint intonwhat I like to call “trippy territory”, or what a more eloquent reviewer wouldncall “surrealism”, these are dream like sequences in the film that don’tnnecessarily adhere to logic or reason. Luc Besson, the Frenchndirector/producer/writer behind Lucy has always been a very eclectic type ofndirector, and one of my favorites. He’s made all kinds of films throughout hisncareer, for example, just recently he directed Robert Deniro and MichellenPfiffer in The Family (2013). He’s also done dramatic films like Leon: TheProfessional (1994), which I still think is one of his best. The one film innBesson’s repertoire that made me think he was the right director for a filmnlike Lucy was The Fifth Element (1997) primarily because The Fifth Element isnsuch an effects driven film, and Lucy is most certainly an effect heavy film. Thenpreviews for Lucy got me excited because I love it when Besson does sci-fi, henalways strives to show us something we’ve never seen before. He takes hisnimagination to new frontiers in his films, and I love that sense of escapism heninfuses in some of them. So did Besson ‘wow’ us once again like he’s done withnhis previous films? 

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nLucy is all about a woman who is suddenly thrust into anworld of drug trafficking, a world she knows nothing about. Yet as fate wouldnhave it she ends up as a courier, transporting an extremely powerful experimentalndrug that makes your brain function at 100% capacity. Problem is that thenpacket she’s carrying burst open inside of her body! Almost immediately thendrug gets into her blood stream and it isn’t long before Lucy begins to experimentnwhat it means to have your brain functioning at full capacity. She soon startsnlearning everything that the mind can achieve when it is in full power! She startsndeveloping these amazing abilities that she didn’t know she had!

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nSo this film has many good things going for it, first off,nit’s all about the visuals, Lucy acquires amazing powers and starts using them,nwith each passing moment she becomes more and more powerful, which offers usnthese awesome moments where she displays her new abilities. That’s where thenstrength of the film is at, in the visuals. Lucy acquires amazing powers likentelepathy and telekinesis! Also, in Lucy we go back in humanities history, we analyzenhumanity, where we began, what we’ve evolved into, why have we done what we’vendone with the planet and all that, which was cool, and of course, all thesenthemes lend themselves for awesome effects that brought to mind scenes from Kubrick’sn2001: A Space Odyssey (1969), actually in more ways than one. Sure, there’s thensurreal element, but also because it has to do with collecting all ofnhumanities knowledge in one super computer, which immediately brought to mindnthe monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is also a super computer. Lucy’snplot about the experimental drug that enhances your brain brought to mindnLimitless (2011) because both films play with the same idea, the onlyndifference is that Lucy goes a bit further with the idea by entering into the realmnof time travel and telekinesis.

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nThe only real let down for me with this movie is that sincenit comes from Luc Besson, the director of The Fifth Element (1999), well, I wasnexpecting something as epic and huge as The Fifth Element, but in reality, Lucynis actually a ‘small film’ with big ideas. As it is, I was expecting for thenfilm to end with a bang, instead it ends with a whimper, and a promise ofnfuture films. It has that kind of open ending that leaves you with a hugenquestion mark in your head. But overall, I had a blast with it, it just needednsomething extra to make it truly awesome. The ending leaves you wondering what’snnext? Kind of like the ending for Highlander (1984) where you are leftnwondering what the main character is going to do with his new found powers andnknowledge. What I’m saying a Besson fan might leave the theater feelingnunderwhelemed, but overall, Lucy’s an action packed film, with car chases,nshoot outs, telekinesis, surreal imagery and thought provoking themes. Plus wenhave the ever beautiful Scarlett Johansson, who continues to amaze with hernbeauty and as a performer. I’m hoping they do make a sequel, I’d love to seenwhere else they can go from here because I was left wanting more, which I’mnsure was the filmmakers purpose from the get go.

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nRating: 4 out of 5      

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