Film Review: ‘Lucy’
Director: Luc Besson
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman
Age Restriction: 16 V
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 90 min
Release date: 29 August 2014
When I viewed the impressive trailer for Lucy, I was immediately hooked into seeing this film, which promised to be an innovative action-packed blockbuster with something new to offer.
But alas, I left the cinema slightly disappointed.
Now don’t get me wrong, Lucy is not necessarily a bad film as it does entertain. However, it comes with many flaws that can’t be ignored.
Lucy tells the tale of the title character (played by Scarlett Johansson) who is kidnapped and used as a drug mule for a gang. This results in a bag of a drug called ‘CPH4’ being sewn into her abdomen so that it can be transported into other countries.
While in captivity, Lucy is kicked in the abdomen causing the bag of drugs to break and leak into her system. This results in Lucy being able to use more than 10% of her brain capacity, causing her to develop superhuman powers including telepathy, telekinesis and superhuman strength.
Lucy then uses her newfound ability to become an unstoppable force out for revenge, and to find a solution to her condition.
While the premise sounds like it had the potential to be something epic, we instead end up with a film that throws it all away in favour of something merely satisfactory.
Even its potential for great action is underutilised into action that’s simple at best as Lucy easily defeats her enemies within seconds resulting in action that moves by swiftly.
The film also has a lot of sci-fi elements and that’s how Morgan Freeman factors in, as he plays a scientist that has been doing research on the theory of the brain using more than 10% of its capacity – a theory that real-life scientists have, in fact, disproved.
Lucy starts out as a promising and engaging film, but by the time we reach the halfway mark, the film disintegrates from epic to mediocre, and then belly-flops into a nonsensical conclusion.
One thing that must be applauded is the film’s visuals, which are impressive to say the very least.
Like the film itself, the acting could’ve been better as well, but due to the lack of emotion in the film, Johansson was unable to soar and ended giving a rather moderate performance.
Viewing its premise, Lucy definitely had the potential to be something great, but instead we’re left with a film that entertains only on lacklustre levels.
However, Lucy does succeed in the science department with its clever notion of what if the brain could use more than the hypothetical 10% of its capacity.
With action here and science there, Lucy is an unbalanced film that doesn’t know exactly what it wants to be.
Those heading to the cinemas anytime soon should rather avoid Lucy as it’s not worth your movie ticket price. Rather wait for the DVD or watch it on TV as Lucy is no cinematic masterpiece.
However, science geeks with lots of imagination may want to give this film a try, while serious scientists should rather avoid at all costs.
Check out the trailer below:
