by Graham Osborne
Lucy is a poor attempt at being a science fiction film with “hidden depths.” Directed by Luc Besson (Fifth Element, Leon: The Professional), it tells the story of a woman, (Scarlett Johansson) who gets caught up in a drug ring, with a twist.
Lucy is a poor attempt at being a science fiction film with “hidden depths.” Directed by Luc Besson (Fifth Element, Leon: The Professional), it tells the story of a woman, (Scarlett Johansson) who gets caught up in a drug ring, with a twist.
The film gets off to a slow, pretentious start, strongly reminiscent of Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. Unfortunately, the pretention is the thing that holds the film back from being anything more than good. The initial open, a series of time-lapsed shots, is narrated over by a bored sounding Johansson. The opener is swiftly followed by a dull, uninteresting conversation that is intercut with stock footage that hammers the point of metaphor directly into the viewer. Whilst one could argue that this is to help the audience member whose mind is elsewhere, the lack of subtlety feels somewhat insulting, especially when the plot at that point of the movie is relatively transparent. The added clips of a cheetah chasing down a gazelle verges into overkill territory.
Once past the initial hump, the story begins to make good on its investments. The stock footage is all but gone by about mid-way through the first act, and the film begins to pick up steam. Johansson is brilliant as the titular Lucy, who gains superpowers after being forced into being a drug mule for the Korean Mob, and Morgan Freeman puts in his turn as “soothing voiced, authority figure.”
Once past the initial hump, the story begins to make good on its investments. The stock footage is all but gone by about mid-way through the first act, and the film begins to pick up steam. Johansson is brilliant as the titular Lucy, who gains superpowers after being forced into being a drug mule for the Korean Mob, and Morgan Freeman puts in his turn as “soothing voiced, authority figure.”
The film manages to twist the traditional conventions of the “revenge thriller” plot that the film suggests will happen, instead creating an enjoyable action romp. Many of the non-superpowered bits create a feel of being the Black Widow film that many have asked for. Of particular note is a car chase through Paris, which contains plenty of high-octane crashes and near-misses.
Choi Min-Sik plays the Korean Mob Boss with panache, his lines, mostly delivered in Korean, initially come across as beautifully calm and in control, but get more and more stressed as Lucy disrupts his organisation.
As the story starts proper, the plot is quite fast-paced, with the majority of exposition reasons as to why something is happening either explained away as “Lucy has accessed more of her brain,” or “Morgan Freeman’s character explained it in his University lecture introduction.” It’s not exactly deep, more trying to hit as many buttons as quickly as possible in order to progress the plot to the point of showing all the cool stuff that’s in the trailers.
Choi Min-Sik plays the Korean Mob Boss with panache, his lines, mostly delivered in Korean, initially come across as beautifully calm and in control, but get more and more stressed as Lucy disrupts his organisation.
As the story starts proper, the plot is quite fast-paced, with the majority of exposition reasons as to why something is happening either explained away as “Lucy has accessed more of her brain,” or “Morgan Freeman’s character explained it in his University lecture introduction.” It’s not exactly deep, more trying to hit as many buttons as quickly as possible in order to progress the plot to the point of showing all the cool stuff that’s in the trailers.
Despite this review’s fairly negative standpoint, Lucy is definitely worth checking out. The performances from the actors are good, the effects are well done and the ultimate payoff, whilst fairly predictable, manages to keep the momentum going to the extent that you’re not willing the end to come. This, along with the films brevity allows it to tell the story with little in the way of side plots to bog down the story. It’s fairly standard soft sci-fi fare with aspirations to bigger things, with the conclusion being left ambiguous enough to suggest a potential sequel in the future.
In conclusion? It’s no Guardians, but it’s definitely better than TMNT.
In conclusion? It’s no Guardians, but it’s definitely better than TMNT.
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