Scarlett Johansson has one of the best years of her career with roles in movies like Her, Captain America and Under the Skin. The life she has breathed into the characters in those movies have all been memorable and she currently seems incapable of picking bad roles. For Lucy she teams up with director Luc Besson (5th Element, Léon). Do they succeed in continuing the success of Johansson ?
The first indication is very positive. The movie opens in Taiwan and has Lucy and her new boyfriend standing in front of a hotel where he has to deliver a briefcase. He seems hesitant and asks her if she can do it. She doesn’t feel up to it, but he leaves her no choice. She enters the lobby and the atmosphere quickly changes when she states she has an appointment with Mr. Jang (Min-sik Choi). For this scene Besson mixes the imagery with those of a leopard slowly closing in on its prey. It’s an opening which gives you no clue of what is about to happen while the tension keeps building. It is almost too much for both Lucy and the viewer to bear and it is only the start of the film. A bag of new drugs is put into her body which she will need to smuggle into her own country, but on the way to the airport the bag ruptures and the effect on Lucy is huge.
It’s the moment the movie changes. To explain what is happening professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) is shown giving a presentation about what would happen to a human is they would be able to use a bigger percentage of their brain capacity. Just like in the movie Limitless this movie also explores that concept and shows the effect of the drugs on Lucy.
Unfortunately it means a lot of the tension that was built-in the opening is lost and the movie changes into a pure action film. Lucy is best compared to a superhero with various special power. Part of me was wishing for a different movei, but at the same time I was able to really enjoy what Besson shows instead. As always it is a joy to watch Johansson do her thing, but also Min-Sik Choi (who should have had more screen time) is as strong a presence as ever. Morgan Freeman only seems to be there to have his name on the poster as he doesn’t get too much to do. Lucy offers excitement, tension, fun action and keeps bringing something new to the table. It might be forgettable, but I did really enjoy it.
Nice review, Nostra! Personally, I did not dig this film because I felt like you, Morgan Freeman was there just to have his name on the poster. That, and it felt very anticlimactic. I also thought that the story was never fully explained. But those are my quips! I did think it was a fun action movie, and Johansson is showing up everything, which is fine by me! 🙂
Thanks Kristin and it is a shame about Freeman. The ending was a bit weird, but you could explain it in such a way that this is a prequel to Her 😉
Luc Besson is a hit and miss to me, so I don’t know where this one lands. I sure hope it’ll be a heck of a lot better than The Family!
Have not seen The Family, so I can’t compare it with that. I had a good time with this one though.
An 8 is a solid and accurate score for this one my friend. I really enjoyed this, regardless of shift in tone, but I was annoyed that Morgan Freeman did little other than narrate the “science” of the movie for the audience. Talk about phoning it in.
Nice review!
Happy to hear that. I felt exactly like you about Freeman…his role was really explaining it to the audience without anything extra which makes his character interesting in any other way.