LUCY (2014 - SCI-FI / ACTION / THRILLER) ***1/2 out of ***** OR 7 out of 10
(That's the last time I ingest blue crystals at a
party...)
CAST:
Scarlett Johansson, Min-Sik Choi, Morgan Freeman, Amr Waked, Julian
Rhind-Tutt, Pilou Asbek, Jan Oliver Schroeder, Luca Angeletti, Analeigh Tipton.
DIRECTOR:
Luc Besson
WARNING:
Some SPOILERS and more reasons to try to tap into the unused 90% of your
brain, straight ahead....
IT'S LIKE THIS:
There's that old trope that goes: "Humans only use 10% of their
brains." The theory is that if we
could somehow unlock the other 90% and tap into it, we'd be able to do things
like - oh, I don't know - predict the winning lottery numbers for next week,
rip someone's clothes off just by thinking about it, walk through a burning
building unscathed, solve complex mathematical problems in a second, and
essentially be Superman fused with Albert Einstein mixed with a little
Maleficent sprinkled with God.
Whether or not it's actually true is another
matter. I have several friends who think
it's utter bullshit and that the movies perpetrate this notion that we only
utilize a tiny sliver of our mental capabilities in order to sell tickets to
flicks like LIMITLESS, X-MEN, HANNAH, CARRIE, SCANNERS and THE MEDUSA
TOUCH. Now, please add to that list of
movies about people with super-mental abilities our next review, the delightfully
bizarre opus, LUCY. Lest you start
thinking this movie is about the bitchy, ball-busting character from the
Peanuts comics, allow me to burst your bubble.
For starters, the Lucy in this flick is blond,
looks like Scarlett Johansson, and is your basic dingbat American party girl
overseas (this time, in Hong Kong). And,
just like any dingbat American party girl overseas, she gets pulled into some
seriously heinous shite because she's busy thinking with her tits and ass
instead of her head. In this case, Lucy
gets conned by a fat asshole acquaintance from one of last night's parties
named Richard (Pilou Asbaek) into delivering a brief case to a mysterious dude
named Mr. Jang (Min-sik Choi). Turns out
Mr. Jang is really more like Mr. Drug Dealer Who Is Marketing Some New MindFuck
Drug Who Needs A Mule To Transport His Doobage And Oh Look Here's Lucy Now How
Convenient.
Before you know it, Richard is dead and Mr. Jang
and his smelly, slimy cronies are forcing Lucy and two other tragic cases (Jan
Oliver Schroder, Luca Angeletti) to have bags of this new drug (comprised of
blue crystals that look like Pop Rocks) sewn up into their tummies so that
Customs won't be able to detect them.
Unfortunately, Lucy's bag springs a leak and the drug seeps out into her
system. Turns out this drug allows you
to tap into the other 90% of your brain which is - allegedly - unused. And just like that, Lucy goes from Dingbat
American Party Girl Overseas to Super-Smart Super-Strong Super-Scary Super
Being.
To wit, because Lucy ingested the Blue Pop Rocks,
she can now do the following: 1) do math
in her head really quick (I mean, REALLY quick); 2) read really, REALLY fast; 3) read people's
thoughts; 4) slam people against walls just by looking at them; 5) make awful
things happen just by thinking about it; and 6) look really, REALLY sexy the
whole time. As you can imagine, this
isn't so much a 180 from who she was before, as much as it is complete
implosion.
Both amazed and terrified by her newfound
abilities, Lucy hightails it to Paris, where she desperately tries to track
down neuroscientist Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman). Apparently, Prof Norman is one of the leading
espousers of the "We Only Use 10% Of Our Brains, I Tell You!"
faction. And she needs him to help her
try to manage her new powers.
But is that even possible? Will Lucy's abilities consume her? Will she actually be able to control
them? Or is the world pretty much
screwed? What can Professor Norman do to
help her? And what about the handsome
French cop named Del Rio (Amr Waked) who gets pulled into the fray? Will he survive Lucy's powers? And what happens when Mr. Jang tracks her
down in Paris? Will a smackdown of CARRIE-like
proportions (times ten) ensure?
Either way, there goes the Eiffel tower...
BUT SERIOUSLY:
Whether or not humans truly only use 10% of their brains and could
accomplish infinitely more if they could tap into the other 90% remains to be
seen. What is certain, though, is that
cinema has been fascinated with this concept for a long time. In THE MEDUSA TOUCH (1978), Richard Burton
played a novelist who had the ability to bring tragedy, misfortune, and
catastrophe on his enemies simply by thought - just like CARRIE from two years
earlier in 1976. In SCANNERS (1981),
Michael Ironside and Jennifer O'Neill played gifted individuals -
"scanners" - who could not only read other people's thoughts but also
fatally control their neurological and biological functions, even from far
away. Recent movies using this "superhuman"
concept include LIMITLESS, the TV show HEROES, the X-MEN franchise, and
essential most superhero movies.
Now, we have LUCY - and it fills somewhat of an
odd niche in the pantheon of this sub-genre.
It is not a horror film like CARRIE, or psychologhical thriller like THE
MEDUSA TOUCH or SCANNERS. Nor is it a
straightforward action/thriller like LIMITLESS, or a superhero film like the
X-MEN movies and others of its kind.
Instead LUCY is almost a blend of character study and chase film tropes,
mixed in with equal doses of action and more surreal elements. The fact that French auteur Luc Besson (THE
PROFESSIONAL, LA FEMME NIKITA) is directing should tip you off that LUCY isn't
going to be your average summer action flick.
Indeed, this film is very "European" in its refusal to be
conventional and its consistent choice to be quirky and atypical.
Whether or not you ultimately enjoy LUCY will
depend on how open of a mind you decide to keep while watching this film. True to Besson fashion, it starts out in the
offbeat lane - and pretty much stays there as it barrels forward like a rocket
to its unpredictable conclusion. Kudos
must go to Scarlett Johansson for giving us a quick impression of Lucy before
she "changes." Johansson puts
us firmly in the character's camp from scene one, giving the impression of a
smarter-than-she-looks-or-knows girl who is just adrift and waiting to find
herself. I know many young people like
that - just waiting to tap their inner potential. With Lucy, it happens on both a stunningly
literal and figurative level.
She isn't adrift for long, because her encounter
with the drug ring that leads to her exposure to the "super-drug"
brings every thing into razor-sharp focus for the rest of the movie. In fact, after the transformation begins,
Johansson's acting is conveyed mostly in penetrating, quizzical looks that are
somehow both expressive and enigmatic, at the same time. For this role, Besson needed an actress that
could command attention with little to no dialogue, and Johansson delivers on
this score. However, when it comes to
dialogue, Johansson proves to be no slouch in that department, either,
especially in a scene where she calls her mother back in the States and
attempts to explain her newly-heightened state of being. It's a hypnotic, heartbreaking scene - and
Johansson nails it. Morgan Freeman, Amr
Waked, and Min-Sik Choi all lend able support to Johansson, but this is her
show all the way.
It will be easy for some to dismiss LUCY as an
"eye-candy" action movie.
While there is indeed a lot of technical and visual razzle-dazzle on
display here, Besson and his writers manage to weave in some suprisingly
profound commentary on consumerism, materialism, and superficiality. Some of these are so subtle that you may
overlook them completely - but they are there.
Essentially, LUCY boils down to a simple idea: maybe the reason humans
can be so petty, small, and selfish is because they are only able to use a
fragment of their consciousness.
Perhaps, if we were to be able to grow "mentally" and reach a
higher state of enlightenment, we would know how to truly live. Maybe we just need to "wake up" the
way Lucy has. Pretty heady stuff for
what was marketed as yet another summer action flick.
In the end, LUCY ends on a note that is a tad
less strong than what it started with, veering into some truly abstract
territory. Nevertheless, it is still a
solid, exhilarating, unusual ride. One
that has what is probably the most trenchant message to be found in any film
this summer: live now - but know exactly what you are living for.
