Lucy (2014)
- Aug 21, 2014
- 2 min read
Directed by: Luc Besson
Starring: Scarlett Johannson, Morgan Freeman
Premièred in 2014 in Toronto, Canada, released in the UK on August 22nd 2014.
Lucy, as its name might suggest, follows the plight of a young woman named Lucy as she is used to smuggle a drug that enhances a person's mental capabilities from thought processes to understanding of complex ideas, to the potential to use pyschokinetic abilities.
While there is a lot of flack for the fact that this film is working on a long disproven premise of humans only accessing 10% of their brain, on the surface Lucy is an entertaining film that can easily be enjoyed and has Besson's style imprinted all over every scene. However all it takes is a slight scratch of the surface to see many problems with it. The main problem with it is the time at which it has been released.
Limitless (2011) already covered the premise of a mind enhancing drug. It was explored pretty well with Bradley Cooper providing a memorable performance. Then there's Transcendence (2014) released only a few months ago which showed the transition of Johnny Depp's A.I. character from a simple computer program to something that transcends human understanding, also starring Mogran Freeman in a similar role to his one in this film. Anything not in either of those films was already shown in the Matrix (1999) including her growing abilities and the enemies that have to be overcome. Essentially, there's not really anything original in this film at all.
Even so, it's not without entertainment. The direction is interesting, if a bit choppy and Johannson is believable for the majority of the film. Unfortunately the writing fails her, making it near impossible to relate to the character fairly quickly.
Probably the worst thing about it is the wasted potential. The main premise was solid but for the most part we were left with surface-level dullness that showed several interesting potential story threads that were never truly explored. What could have been an emotional journey of a poor woman as she slowly lost her humanity instead speeds towards the climax losing the audience surprisingly fast. Even an extra ten minutes at the end to explore the fallout of what did happen would have added some much needed depth to a story that unfortunately feels rushed and incomplete.
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