Lucy (2014)

Directed by: Luc Besson
Country: France

Movie Review: “Lucy” marks Scarlett Johansson’s second sci-fi incursion in a row, after this year’s modern masterpiece, “Under the Skin”. The result is very contrasting when compared to the latter, proving that Luc Besson, considered a cult filmmaker in the 80’s and beginning of the 90’s (“Subway”, “La Femme Nikita”, “Leon: the Professional”, “The Fifth Element”), is far from the good shape evinced before. The story follows Lucy (Johansson), a young student living in Taipei, forced by her boyfriend to deliver a mysterious briefcase to a Korean gangster chief, Mr. Jang (Choi Min-sik). In a blink of an eye, her boyfriend is killed while she is made prisoner and used by the Koreans as one of their drug mules. The valuable new drug, called CPH4, is introduced into her abdomen still as a package. When she is kicked in the belly by one of the captors, the package starts leaking, and Lucy has a psychedelic trip, acquiring both mental and physical capacities that permit her see beyond the human reality. She decides to counter-attack, counting with the help of an old professor (Morgan Freeman) and a French cop (Amr Waked). A very good premise that was compromised since its second half, where it became more and more far-fetched, preferring mechanical action scenes instead of paying attention to details or even working to become more thrilling. Despite some real funny lines thrown in the first minutes (the best moments of the film), this ‘Nikita with super-powers’ didn’t revealed enough conceptual strength, aggravated with a flashy execution.