“Lucy” Movie Review

July 27, 2014

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Lucy is the name of the oldest known hominid female who bones were found in Ethiopia in 1973. Go to WikiPedia for more information.

Fast forward, 3.2 million years or so, and Scarlett Johansson (Lucy) is about to become the first human to access 100% of her brain; with all the transformative powers that could possibly come with that.

When her American boyfriend in Taiwan asks Lucy to deliver an attache case to a Mr. Jang (Min-sik Choi) in a Taipei Hotel, Lucy witnesses the murder of her boyfriend and is forced into employment as a courier for a new drug that Mr. Jang believes will take Europe by storm.

The Jang gang sews a package of the drug inside Lucy’s abdomen and sends her on her way. Lucy (totally unexplained in the movie) ends up being held in a prison like situation and is kicked in the gut by some lowlife. This kick opens the package of drugs and Lucy experiences a number of interesting transformations, two of which are becoming extremely intelligent and increasingly powerful.

We find out—from cuts to a brain researcher, Morgan Freeman as Professor Norman, giving a talk—that humans only access about 10% of their brain. He asks the question: “What would happen if we could access 100% of our brain?”. Then proposes some theories; including being able to control others and the person’s surroundings.

As Lucy accesses more and more of her brain, her capabilities grow, and we learn that Professor Norman is on the right track with his theories. During this process, Johansson’s character becomes more and more intellectually aloof to her plight, and Johansson plays that aloofness with perfection.

“Lucy” is a unique, interesting, enjoyable, action science fiction movie. It is rated R mostly for bloody violence (not gory, just bloody). There were a few f-words, but, it is definitely NOT for kids (one set of incompetent parents brought in younger kids).

Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Min-sik Choi, and Amr Waked (as Detective Pierre Del Rio) are all excellent. We, the audience, root for the good guys and cheer when the bad guys meet their demise.

Go to IMDb for more information. We watched this at the Tracy, CA CineMark.