Scarlett Johansson is Lucy, in Luc Besson’s latest
Lucy
Directed by Luc Besson
Starring Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Min-sik Choi
Review by Jordan
For some reason I was of the belief that Luc Besson was a skilful and influential director. Perhaps the memories of Leon (1994) and The Fifth Element (1997) reverberate more vividly in my mind than I thought, or maybe its simply that he boasts a cool-sounding French name, but I have always had the impression that he is an auteur able to successfully mix action and imaginative concepts into lasting works for budding cinephiles to admire and discuss.
Then, after watching and, ultimately, being underwhelmed by the surprisingly slight Lucy, I perused his list of films as director (producer would’ve taken too long), noted those that I have seen and realized why his latest effort wasn’t the exhilarating experience I hoped it would be…
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), Arthur and the Invisibles (1, 2 & 3) and The Family (2013) certainly show that his trend as a film-maker has been downward, and renders it unfortunate that he only wrote and didn’t direct the barnstorming Transporter (2002) starring then-upcoming star Jason Statham, and the guilty pleasure (though poor, I’ll admit) comedy that finally saw Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz team up, Bandidas (2006). It appears that he is retaining his status as important thanks to the lasting appeal of his classics, and given how much I love The Fifth Element (thanks largely in part to my admiration of Milla Jovovich though), I can almost accept that. Lucy, though, could’ve been a film made by anyone, and is neither a comeback or progressive in the least.
Without being action packed enough for the short-attention span crowd or clever enough for the intellectuals, Lucy is like a science class version of a punk rock song: short, fast & loud. Scarlett Johansson is good as the drug-injected victim of black market smuggling-turned astronomical force of vengeance boasting the ability to control the full capacity of her brain as well as others (pardon the brief plot outline), and there is no shortage of memorable set pieces, but the casting of Morgan Freeman as yet another wise old man with a steely voice reeks of desperation, as do the included snippets of the way in which nature supposedly adapts and utilizes its IQ.
I did not need to see YouTube quality video of animals mating to know that it is what animals do; what I needed was a longer running time and a more patient approach, as well as an ending that didn’t venture way into the realm of inaccessibility. This is not a movie that provokes thought or that will inspire debate; every time an idea or scenario arises that might create a train of intense thought, it is soon shot down by either a bullet or even more lethal stare from the angry heroine, but, in one trait it does share with The Fifth Element, at least its never boring.
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys) 
You must set the bar very high for boredom 🙂 I was mentally preparing my grocery list less than halfway through the film.
Haha I can’t blame you. The short running time saw me through
Wow. Im skipping this one.
Not a bad idea!
Jordan
Good review Jordan. Though it was absolutely insane, I still had fun with it to where I didn’t care too much and just decided to enjoy everything for what it was.
Yeah it doesn’t take much time to realise that its not gonna be a brain teaser, so I was open to just being entertained eventually too.
Jordan
I don’t know if Besson is in a downward spiral with the films he directs. In Lucy, there are the obvious connections to his previous films like Nikita, Leon and maybe a touch of The Fifth Element. His style hasn’t really changed very much and he’s able to maintain a kinetic energy to drive the story. But Lucy has a super-grand idea at its core that I don’t think would have been managed satisfactorily within its slim run-time, or even a 3hr run-time. It does leave you in head-scratching mode, tho.
Yeah I can see what you mean; I think I just wanted him to be more ambitious. Gee the ending is weird though, ha.
Jordan
I’d been skeptical about going to see this one, so I’ll think I’ll avoid it now.
not a bad idea. Unless you’re in the mood for some cliched Morgan Freeman narration.
Jordan
Well, I was considering watching it, because Scarlett is one of my favourite actress, but it sounds as if I shouldn’t even give it a shot, perhaps?
Hmm.. if you’re a big Scarlett fan, I say watch it. She certainly doesn’t shame herself at all and is quite the presence at times.
Jordan.
It sounds to me like this film would’ve been better off as a mini-series. It’s not often the complaint about a film is that it is not long enough.
Ha true true actually. It had the running time of an action movie, but had less action than it did ideas so it really needed to be longer and braver.
Jordan
this movie left me at 60% brain capacity.
Ha. It left me at 1%.
Jordan
The movie’s ending made it clear Besson had a concept that he himself had no clue what to do with it.
Nicely put. It got away from him and won’t be remembered fondly at all I’m afraid.
Jordan
The problem with Lucy is that she gets strong way too quickly. She needed to be slightly more powerful than her opposition for the majority of the film, but by the half way point she’s able to put people to sleep with her mind. Great, there’s all the tension gone!
So true! She really reminded me of a less-cool version of Alice from Resident Evil (when Alice had powers, that is). There was no sense of threat at all.
Jordan
I hated this film. I think you’ve done well to find anything to enjoy.
I thought at least a few people would’ve really liked it, but nope!
Jordan
This movie was like watching a documentary (those boring ones about something you should be knowledgeable about, not the cool ones on NatGeo) definitely on my list for worst movies of 2014
Yeah it really squandered its potential that’s for sure.
Jordan
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