Review: Lucy

Luc Besson is at his best when he focuses on work. La Femme Nikita and Leon, his two best films, are defined by an exploration of the inner workings of contract killing. At the center of both of these films are characters who try to remain human in the midst of such work. His new film, Lucy has many of these same elements. A woman is thrust into a situation, like Le Femme Nikita, and must figure out how to remain somewhat human as she transforms into the smartest person ever. Where Lucy fails is it never grounds itself in plausibility. Besson largely abandons any focus on the mechanics of the violent world Lucy is dropped into, aside from a great scene involving the initial setup.

That opening scene drops us right into the action as Lucy is forced by a casual lover to deliver a briefcase into a hotel. He is quickly killed and Lucy soon finds herself stuffed with a package of a new drug that unlocks ones full brain capacity. She is later beaten up, releasing the super brain drug into her system.

Lucy is full of unusual set pieces like an ESP assisted car chase. While the varied barrage of oddities is enough to separate the film from a run of the mill summer action film, the film never fully makes good on the wacky premise. We never learn how any of Lucy's new superpowers work. When you have a central character who is supposed to be the smartest woman alive, you would think the screenwriters would indulge in laying out clever ways in which she escapes danger. Instead we just see her dismantle guns with her mind or make baddies levitate. This robs us of feeling the smarts of the plot. The script is unclever about someone extremely clever.

Lucy is a wild ride nonetheless. If you turn your brain off, the film will entertain purely by its audacity and energetic direction. Besson still has a flare for action but this film isn't one of his best. The script just misses too many chances to wow. Scarlett Johansson is strong as the lead but is only rarely asked to show emotion, robbing her of a chance to interject Lucy with some compassion.

3/5