Unless you are nearly brain dead, you will find this film stimulating. If you are a sci-fi buff like me, even more so. A film like this reminds me of how starved some of us are for films of this sort. This film was brilliantly directed by the French Maestro. Beautifully acted, by Scarlotte Johansson.
While the transformation is happening, we see Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) giving a lecture on the capacity of the human brain. He says people generally use only about 10 percent of their brain's capacity. (Yes, it's an urban legend, but you'll enjoy the movie a whole lot more if you ignore that fact and just go with it.) Norman, an authority in this field, has no idea his path will soon cross with Lucy's.
Lucy accidentally ingests the drug and her neurons begin firing. Her brain begins to grow ever-more powerful - so powerful that she's able to easily disarm any captor and figure a way out of any situation she's in. She needs someone who understands brain function to help her while a team is hot on the trail to dispense with her. The film moves at such a frantic pace and provides such mind-boggling visuals and fascinating concepts about time and existence that it's impossible not to be entertained. Besson also throws in some brief but exhilarating nature scenes to emphasize Lucy's vulnerability (at first) and then to expound upon what she is learning.
Somewhat improbably, it's also an ideal culmination of a sci-fi trilogy Johansson may not have even realized she was making. In Her, Under the Skin and now Lucy, the 29-year-old veteran has not only delivered some of the finest work of her career, she's found a trio of characters in conversation about what it means to be human through the eyes of an outsider, be it artificial intelligence, alien or an accidental superhuman. In fact, it's near impossible to imagine Lucy without Johansson and her perfectly calibrated performance, a crucial component to investing in the story's inherent silliness.
The action was a little over the top at times. The Chinese gangsters were perhaps a metaphor for the Chinese Politburo. Perhaps the world's ultimate criminal organization, that will stop at nothing to achieve it's ends.
What you'll find here, is a well-crafted science fiction yarn that might make you think more than you bargained for while you enjoy the shoot-ups and vehicle crashes.
While the transformation is happening, we see Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) giving a lecture on the capacity of the human brain. He says people generally use only about 10 percent of their brain's capacity. (Yes, it's an urban legend, but you'll enjoy the movie a whole lot more if you ignore that fact and just go with it.) Norman, an authority in this field, has no idea his path will soon cross with Lucy's.
Lucy accidentally ingests the drug and her neurons begin firing. Her brain begins to grow ever-more powerful - so powerful that she's able to easily disarm any captor and figure a way out of any situation she's in. She needs someone who understands brain function to help her while a team is hot on the trail to dispense with her. The film moves at such a frantic pace and provides such mind-boggling visuals and fascinating concepts about time and existence that it's impossible not to be entertained. Besson also throws in some brief but exhilarating nature scenes to emphasize Lucy's vulnerability (at first) and then to expound upon what she is learning.
Somewhat improbably, it's also an ideal culmination of a sci-fi trilogy Johansson may not have even realized she was making. In Her, Under the Skin and now Lucy, the 29-year-old veteran has not only delivered some of the finest work of her career, she's found a trio of characters in conversation about what it means to be human through the eyes of an outsider, be it artificial intelligence, alien or an accidental superhuman. In fact, it's near impossible to imagine Lucy without Johansson and her perfectly calibrated performance, a crucial component to investing in the story's inherent silliness.
The action was a little over the top at times. The Chinese gangsters were perhaps a metaphor for the Chinese Politburo. Perhaps the world's ultimate criminal organization, that will stop at nothing to achieve it's ends.
What you'll find here, is a well-crafted science fiction yarn that might make you think more than you bargained for while you enjoy the shoot-ups and vehicle crashes.