FILM REVIEW Lucy

Mule tale a bit of a donkey


Cinema
Neill O'Neill

IF the Beatles song ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ actually was about the hallucinogenic drug LSD, there could be people out there thinking that the story behind this ‘Lucy’ may well have taken some inspiration from a similar source.
This movie straddles multiple genres and themes, without carrying sufficient weight on any to draw the viewer in convincingly. The basic concept of the story line is that a woman living in Taiwan, Lucy (played by Scarlett Johansson), inadvertently gets dragged into an international drug smuggling ring. The substance being smuggled is a powerful, synthetic drug, CPH4, which has superhuman transformative side-effects once ingested in large quantities.
A bag of blue crystals that has been sewn into Lucy’s abdomen against her will ruptures after an assault, and Lucy goes on a rampage against those who forced her into her predicament. She also embarks on a quest to secure for humankind the knowledge and experience that comes with being the first person to have 100 percent of brain capacity activated.
True, ‘Lucy’ explores some current issues, such as people using their bodies to transport narcotics across international borders (or being forced to in this instance) and some interesting ones, such as the use of the cerebral capacity of the human brain. However, somewhere along the way this picture turns into a cocktail of ‘Limitless’, ‘Tomb Raider’, ‘The Matrix’, ‘Rush Hour’ and ‘Good Will Hunting’. There are too many sub-plots ongoing at once, and perhaps a little too much sci-fi.
The film is written and directed by French filmmaker Luc Besson, and if you have seen his other works, such as The Fifth Element, you will notice some wacky parallels.
Initially, the film heads down the pretty straightforward and intriguing road of young woman being cajoled by her new boyfriend into delivering a briefcase to a stranger, the very frightening Mr Jang, who is surrounded by a triad-like gang of henchmen.
The script could have gone many directions from that point, but after being kicked in the abdomen while captive, Lucy acquires some pretty phenomenal attributes, and firstly goes on a mission against her aggressors, à la Lara Croft, and then a mission to bring her superhuman abilities to the pre-eminent professor on the human brain, Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman), who is simultaneously giving a lecture in a Parisian University.
Lucy also contacts a Parisian chief of police, who intercepts the other reluctant drug mules in Paris, Berlin and Rome and all the main players then converge on the French capital for an exploration of Lucy’s mind and capabilities, a car chase through the streets that matches any action film and a shoot out between Mr Jang and his crew and French police.  
For sci-fi fans there is plenty to ponder in Lucy, and the action is well shot and not completely off the wall, while Morgan Freeman delivers the role of Professor Norman with his usual aplomb.
Mr Jang is a very convincing villain, and Johansson, in a refreshing divergence for an actress usually cast in softer roles, carries the requirements of a multiple-personality lead character quite well, transforming from a frightened and innocent young woman to a ruthless and emotionless protagonist, in the blink of a blue eye.

Rating 5 out 10