Lucy

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Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is an exchange student in Taipei who gets tricked into delivering a suitcase full of drugs to a Korean syndicate in a five star hotel. She reluctantly becomes a drug mule, with a packet of drugs surgically implanted in her belly for retrieval right after she deplanes in the United States. She gets in trouble en route to America, though, as one of the goons in charge of guarding her attempts rape, which she successfully foils but not without a kick to the stomach that damages the packet and releases the substance into her blood stream. What she receives should have been a fatal dose, but her body adapts quickly. Soon enough she finds herself with new superhuman abilities as an effect of her rapidly expanding brain usage. As her brain capacity nears 100%, Lucy becomes a God-like entity, doing stuff one only witnesses in science fiction stories. But the syndicate wants their drugs back, while Lucy also needs a steady supply to maintain her newfound skills. As such, one chase scene after another unfolds all over Europe as the two parties try to outwit and get rid of of each other.

Now this is one hell of a popcorn flick. Of course the scientific community would air their grievances against this 100% brain usage theory which they have already debunked a million of times. Lighten up, dudes, this is science fiction! And Luc Besson knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat with the right mix of impressive CGI and an equally powerful original score. You might have to leave your brain at the door, but gladly do so. You will enjoy for an hour or two, promise!

It is kind of rare, though, for such a movie anchored by a heroine to become a box office hit, unless you are Angelina Jolie. Perhaps an exception should be made for Johansson, though. After all, she has already established a kick-ass persona thanks to her well-loved character in The Avengers. Seeing her in a similar role with visuals that are on par with that movie would not be a very bad idea to sell to one too many fan boys out there, and perhaps that is what really happened here. Who cares about loopholes when you have your eyes fixated on Lucy kicking ass, right? In a way, it is like Transformers, but instead of Optimus Prime and a thousand explosions, you get Scarlett and drugs. Fair enough.

As for Morgan Freeman, they could not have found a more suitable actor to explain what the hell is happening, given his reputation for such roles which aim to demystify what is usually unfathomable for the typical moviegoer brain. The role is light and does not require much, and Freeman’s credibility as a fountain of knowledge is good enough for everyone to appreciate.

The ending is a bit hard to explain despite all attempts to dumb everything down, which means you might get this WTF feeling as you get out of the cinema, wondering what the heck you just saw. Embrace that feeling. You enjoyed the movie anyway, now didn’t you? Again, this is a popcorn flick, and a very good one at that. As for disputes regarding the validity of the scientific theory used in the movie, that is better left in the hands of nerds and geeks who would gladly debate its merits and flaws with you. But then again, ain’t nobody got time for that.