Lucy

Another trip to the cinema came today and while it's not completely different from my usual film choice when going to the cinema, this time it's a little unusual because it was by a director I don't normally watch, though I have seen some of his films before, and the entire plot was different to my usual type of film.

Lucy is the 2014 science fiction action film from Luc Besson, whom wrote, directed, and edited this film; Scarlett Johansson (Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Island) stars as the titular character while Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption, The Dark Knight trilogy), Amr Waked (Contagion, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), and Choi Min-sik (Oldboy, I Saw the Devil) co-star along with Julian Rhind-Tutt (Green Wing, Notting Hill) and Pilou Asbæk (A Hijacking, R) who play minor roles in Lucy's story.

Rating: 8

Recommended To: Scarlett Johansson fans; those looking for something weird

Favourite Characters: Lucy - interesting character

Favourite Part: Lucy: [At the beginning, voiceover] Life was given to us a billion years ago.  What have we done with it?
[...]
[At the end, voiceover] Life was given to us a billion years ago.  Now you know what you can do with it.

Good Points: Johansson's performance was wonderful; first half was great; interesting concept

Bad Points: Science jargon got too much; second half was drastically different

Lucy begins with the titular character, Lucy (Johansson) - a young American woman studying in Taipei, arguing with her boyfriend of a week, Richard (Asbæk), who tricks her into going into a hotel to drop off a suitcase for his employer, Mr. Jang (Min-sik), who turns out to be a Korean drug lord.  Mr. Jang's men take Lucy hostage and once they test the weird drug that was in the suitcase, they knock her out and a bag of the drug is sewn into her abdomen.  When she is taken to a drug dealer who works for Mr. Jang, she is kicked in the stomach sharply and the bag holding the drug breaks which is released into Lucy's system.  This results in her gaining enhanced physical and mental abilities which confuses her slightly at first.  Before she escapes, she kills her captors before they can get the drugs out of her abdomen and she goes to the nearest hospital so she can get the drug out safely and find out what is going on inside her body now; the doctor tells her that the drug could overload her body as her new abilities continue to expand.  We then continue to witness Lucy's transformation and she seeks revenge against the man who has caused this horrific event to happen to her, using her newfound abilities against him.  At the same time, Professor Samuel Norman (Freeman) is doing research into what would happen if humans used more of their brain and his research could be the key to saving Lucy.

Johansson's performance as Lucy was wonderful in this film as she plays both sides of Lucy, the pre-drug version and the post-drug version, extremely well, milking the former for all it's worth to make for a much bigger contrast later on as Lucy becomes more distant.  You could see a physical transition as Lucy's brain function expands through slight twitches, almost jerking, like a robot, making it both an emotional performance and a physical one and could have been a direction in the script or from the director at the time but the subtlety of it made the twitches an interesting and impressive part to Johansson's performance.  If it had been more obvious, it might not have worked so well.  Johansson's performance as the post-drug ingestion Lucy reminds me of her as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but even more intimidating as she becomes this icy femme fatale who moves beyond all earthly restrictions - moral, time, and space; while similar, she's expanded on it, showing a more ruthless side to her acting ability which I found impressive and shows she isn't a one-trick pony.

The first half of Lucy was fantastic because it initially felt like a superhero/vigilante film which was action-filled and I thoroughly enjoyed this because it is by far my favourite film genre other than animated fantasy films.  It also felt like a normal Besson film and I've always enjoyed his films because they are always interesting even if they're a little weird.  The action sequences in the beginning such as when Lucy shoots several men through a door and when she uses her new telekinetic powers against another group of armed men to disarm them were fantastic and added to the superhero/vigilante feeling you got from the first half before it gets even more unusual.

The concept and myth behind this film, humans only using 10% of their brain, was very interesting and while not an accurate myth - we use different parts for different things, it made me think about the possibility of us being able to use our brains to their full potential all of the time.  It's one of these questions that we can ponder on as we'll never really know unless science really advances but this may lead to questionable ethics, playing with someone's brain.

The two different sides of Lucy's personality, the pre and post-drug versions, made her an interesting character.  Johansson's performance makes this character as she goes from being an innocent bystander to the brutality of a Korean drug lord to an ass-kicking, super-powered woman who is out for revenge against the men who did this to her as she knows she won't survive the drug taking over her system.  She's isn't my favourite character because she could be considered strong female character, she's my favourite character because she's interesting and while she becomes colder and more aloof, watching her cry on the phone to her mother as she becomes overwhelmed by her own memories will always stick in my mind because you see this vulnerability that makes this fierce woman human.

What becomes overwhelming in this film as Lucy slowly deteriorates but gains more brain function, was all of the scientific jargon that was thrown around.  It comes across as an action film at first and it still is until the end in a way, but once Lucy talks to Professor Norman, you are just trying to comprehend what these two are saying to each other.  While clever, it can be a lot to follow and take in at the same time.

The first half was wonderful as I've said and was pure Besson as I know him but once Lucy hit the 50% mark of her brain function, the second half of the film became something completely different as Lucy was no longer a vigilante in my eyes and became more robotic.  There was just so much CGI going on in the end and like the science jargon, it was all a bit much as she whooshed through time and space.  While interesting to a point, they didn't need such a longer sequence towards the end.

Lucy: [At the beginning, voiceover] Life was given to us a billion years ago.  What have we done with it?
[...]
[At the end, voiceover] Life was given to us a billion years ago.  Now you know what you can do with it.

The voiceovers at the beginning and the end and made me think about what we have done with this planet and the life we've been given since life began.  Every so often I like to watch something that makes me think in the end because it makes a difference from my usual choice of films.  It's an interesting question and something to ponder on; other Besson films I've seen have made me think about something in particular and it's probably why I will go see more of his films in the future because they can become great conversation pieces.

Lucy is a very unusual film with an interesting concept because what would happen if we use our entire brain.  Though  the science is off but it's a science fiction film, it doesn't have to be 100% accurate in my opinion but I don't like to be weighed down by the fictional science which this film partly does towards the end.  Johansson's performance is brilliant and is why I love to watch her film because she is not playing a character, she is the character for me.  The first half of the film was pure Besson, full of action and an intriguing story, but it all got a bit weird near the end which was a shame.  While not extremely complicated, in such a short space of time, you have to comprehend a lot of information and I was able to understand most it, it did bring my rating down in the end.  If you are looking for an interesting film that makes you think then go see Lucy but if you want pure action as this film looks in the trailer then this might not be the film for you.

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