“Lucy” is an action movie with real style, verve and high-concept silliness. It works more than it doesn’t, though I wish it didn’t fall victim to so many genre trappings. Its concept sees Scarlett Johansson gaining superhuman abilities as she gradually unlocks the full potential of her brain capacity. This concept is based in bogus science -- that disproved theory that humans only use 10% of their brains -- but for the purposes of the plot, we’ll just have to swallow it. At least Morgan Freeman’s wise, all-knowing exposition is there to make it go down smoothly.
The film is written and directed by French action maestro Luc Besson, who gives it a propulsive flow and the kind of knowingly goofy vibe you’d expect from the guy who made “The Fifth Element.” Johansson is Lucy, a young American woman living and studying in Taiwan who is tricked into being a drug mule and ends up with a strange, blue synthetic drug sewn into her abdomen. The drug, called CPH4, has the ability to increase the user’s brain activity to superhuman levels -- it’s similar to the pills Bradley Cooper popped in “Limitless,” though it’s much more powerful, and it really lives up to that title. Whilst in captivity, she’s kicked in the stomach, resulting in the CPH4 leaking into her system. Soon enough, her intelligence is rapidly increasing, her senses are bursting through the evolutionary roof, and she’s gaining psychic powers which allow her to control the elements around her.
Throughout the film, the level of brain capacity Lucy has activated flashes onto the screen -- 20%, 30%, 40%, etc. -- as she becomes more and more powerful and nears what we can only assume is a state of omnipresent godliness. Johansson is tasked with playing a sympathetically frightened everywoman, a badass action heroine, and a supreme, almighty being -- she nails all three, and remains in complete command throughout. And as Lucy gets closer and closer to 100%, and her pains, fears and desires whither away, Johansson still manages to elicit flickers of humanity through her steely coolness. She and Besson make for an entertaining team-up, and her Lucy is a welcome addition to the list of tough woman warriors in Besson movies, alongside Anne Parillaud’s Nikita, Natalie Portman’s Mathilda, and Milla Jovovich’s Leeloo.
Besson, of course, can’t resist the urge to fill the film with mindless, high-velocity gunfights and car chases, which, some nifty effects aside, are a little routine considering the potential of the premise. Still, the majority of the film is appealingly absurd, and in the end it comes to a finale that’s daringly, refreshingly outlandish. And despite Besson’s philosophical musings and pseudo-scientific hypotheses, the film isn’t really trying to be anything more than a trippy thrill-ride -- in that sense, it’s a solid success. Johansson’s been on a roll recently, with “Her” one of the best movies of last year and “Under the Skin” one of the best of this year. “Lucy” isn’t on quite the same par as either of those movies, but like them, it shows that despite her status as a smoldering Hollywood sex symbol, she picks her projects with a bold adventurousness.
Rating: 7/10
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