If you'd like a more visual experience you can watch my youtube review HERE!
Since the start of last year I've been watching at least one movie in theatres each week and reviewing them. There comes a point when reviewing movies that a score is almost informed by the movies that come before it and guide the grading scale that I use. Lucy is one of those movies whose reception is guided by the films that have come before it and I will dig into this further later in this review.
Lucy is the new film from French director Luc Besson (Nikita, Leon: The Professional) whose last memorable film was the very entertaining The Fifth Element (1997). Lucy stars Scarlett Johansson as the title character, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-Sik (Oldboy), Amr Waked with small roles from Analeigh Tipton and Julian Rhind-Tutt. The film follows Lucy as she is forced to be a drug mule for a new experimental drug that is a lot more than your average narcotic. After the drug accidentally enters her system she begins to exceed the limits of her body's capacity and becomes more than human.
This movie is based on the idea that humans only use 10% of their brain capacity; a theory that has now been proven wrong, making the logic of this movie go completely out the window and requiring a huge amount of suspension of disbelief. But it doesn't end there...With Lucy comes a very silly script that is full of many logical flaws and treated very seriously. This doesn't mean it doesn't have fun but it holds onto it's premise with such conviction that it constantly took me out of the movie. Luc Besson executes the film with a straight face, treating it very seriously without much levity and making it harder to accept. Besson also uses a lot of stock footage as metaphoric symbolism with no subtlety at all, almost adding a pretentiousness to the film but in a way it is almost admirable regarding the type of movie it is supposed to be.
Now with that said it doesn't mean there aren't positive things to say about this film. It's a very well made movie with Besson's style being as slick as always. The cinematography is very nice with some great compositions and executed sequences. The art design pops with many colours as do the visual effects of the film which a very uniquely designed. The music hits the right beats and the film is well edited and swiftly paced, with the film being less than 90 minutes and a breeze to watch.
This is a film made purely as a piece of entertainment with no aim at social commentary or to be one of the greatest films of all time and that's not a bad thing. It can be very fun and exhilarating without ever being boring, sure it's very nonsensical but it gets the adrenaline pumping and has some pretty good moments of tension. Unfortunately it's missing the human element that movies really need to succeed. The character of Lucy starts of very relatable and empathetic but as soon as she is exposed to the drug she loses all of her humanity and becomes a Terminator-like being who seems just as robotic. The performances of all the actors are solid but in the end there is no one to root for, you're just sitting there in the cinema waiting for things to play out and not being invested in what is going on.
Lucy is the type of film you rent if you're looking for some fun action; it's nothing substantial but it's entertaining to an extent and far from the worse film to come out in cinemas lately. In fact it has to be one of the most original movies to come out this year; it is unique in both design and execution (not premise which is similar to Limitless). Would I watch this movie again? No. But I don't feel like I wasted my time or wanted to bang my head against a wall which is all I can ask of any movie. Much like Hercules last week I did not think this movie was great but it's far from terrible and can be rather entertaining.
2 1/2 out of 5 stars.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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