'Lucy' A Review

Lucy is an action-thriller about a young woman who acquires super powers through increased brain activity due to over exposure to an illicit experimental drug. The movie opens in Taiwan on student and party girl Lucy(Scarlett Johansson) after a late night with her new boyfriend. Lucy's boyfriend Richard tricks her into delivering a briefcase to a local crime lord and is forced into being a drug mule. Lucy gets CPH4, a new synthetic party drug, sewn into her abdomen. After being assaulted the drug leaks into her bloodstream and she gets access to the full function of her brain. Chaos ensues.

The powers that Johansson acquires are cool and the action sequences are entertaining. There is however a ton of meaningless and unjustified collateral damage. Not only is the premise tired, seen most recently in Limitless, but the logic is flawed and at points non-existent. Johansson puts in a bizarre performance: before the application of the drug she is an air head using her study abroad semester to party, after she is an emotionless, desireless, robotic killer with seemingly not motivation what so ever. There is no why to be found in Lucy.

The movie lacks heart, character, and any semblance of a cogent narrative. A movie cannot rest soley on the backs of CGI and a star. The idea of someone gaining more brain function and having powers will always be intriguing, the idea that inside all of us we carry the potential for genius will always be exciting, but without a point of view or something to actually say that tired troupe falls flat.

Thin and bland.

Don't See It.