Scarlett Johansson is the titular character in Lucy, a woman who is pretty much a mess at the beginning of the film. She is an American (supposedly graduate) student in Taipei, Taiwan who has a boyfriend that isn’t altogether living an exactly legal lifestyle. Things go very poorly for Lucy and she is forced into being a drug mule. As if that wasn’t bad enough (it’s pretty bad, considering the drug kingpin) Lucy gets exposed to a large dose of the drug. Only this drug alters the mind. Literally.
Special mention should be made of Mr. Jang, the drug kingpin in the film. He is a particularly nasty piece of work. I was reminded of Jack Nicholson’s character in The Departed. Methodical and ruthless, Mr. Jang is simply an brute, but he has an army to carry out his orders. This poses a problem for Lucy towards the end of the film, but it’s not one she won’t be able to overcome.
What happens? If you have seen any of the trailers or commercials you know – Lucy taps into parts of her brain that are otherwise unexplored. Morgan Freeman portrays a professor whom Lucy contacts regarding her condition. Eventually the two meet up, Lucy wanting to allow her condition to be beneficial, to be taken as research.
Luc Besson is the name that drove me to want to see this film. I like his work as a director, his aesthetic is interesting. I’m not saying all of his films are brilliant, but at least the bulk of them (that I have seen) are enjoyable. That’s where Lucy fits in for me. I wanted to see Besson’s take on the brain and the theoretical broadening of its capacity. While I wasn’t disappointed I also wasn’t “wowed” like I was when I first watched some of his earlier films.
While Lucy may be scientifically shaky it does posit an interesting theory. Thankfully Scarlett Johansson tackles her role well and is believable as a young woman who gets in over her head then finds a way out of her predicament. The stylized action is what Luc Besson does best and this is a prime example of what he is capable of (other than the plot holes and scientific gobbledy-gook).
Only two featurettes are present on the Blu-ray. Both combine to clock in and well under a half hour. Don’t expect anything earth-shatteringly revelatory here.