Lucy
Morgan Freeman is going through a slow slum these days. After taking a check in the abysmal Johnny Depp film, “Transcendance,” in which he appears briefly, he’s now in another terrible film starring Scarlett Johansson called “Lucy.” This sci-fi, thriller is a waste of talent involved, but if it’s action to the highest degree you want, this may tickle your fancy.
Produced by the folks who “La Femme Nikita,” “The Professional,” and “The Fifth Element,” comes a film that lacks any substance but relies heavily on action and nonsensical sequences that keeps your brain from being activated.
Johansson plays Lucy, an American student who’s forced by her boyfriend in Taipei to take a briefcase to some Chinese gangsters. What they do instead in turn her into a drug mule, inserting a new drug in Lucy’s abdomen. As they try to extract the drug from her through a cruel beating, each she blow she takes triggers the chemicals in her system and turns her into a highly skilled killing machine.
Seeking help, a professor (Freeman) explains that the drug in Lucy’s body seems to give her superhuman strength from the mind and body as it reached 100% of her brain capacity. When and if she reaches that point, the theory is that she will be omnipotent.
Where has the creative mind of Besson gone? With Nikita, The Fifth Element, Angel-A, and even Zoe Saldana’s Colombiana, there was a level of substance that went along with the action when having a female lead. With this film, it’s as if he decided not to think at all and just go for the action, no matter the plot holes. With Johansson, she’s all game with the movie, giving every bit to sell this film, whether its wearing a skin-tight dress or kicking butt.
If you’re looking for a mindless action film that takes you away from reality then this is the place for you. But if you go because you think it may provide some substance with Freeman in the picture, then think again.
