Lucy

Year: 2014 

Genre: Science Fiction

There is an urban legend that suggests that the human race only uses 10% of our brain capacity, with the remaining 90% remaining locked away and untouched. What would happen if as humans, we could access 100% of our brain? What could we do? What would be capable of achieving?

Enter into the ring Lucy, played by Scarlett Johannson. Lucy (we never find out her surname) is living with her ex boyfriend in Taipei. She is tricked into delivering briefcase containing the mind bending drug CPH4 to a Chinese mafia boss in an upmarket hotel. He forces her to be a drug mule, but when the bag bursts in a fight, the drug enters Lucy's bloodstream and she develops superhuman mental powers. 

So what of the film itself? The main problem with 'Lucy', is that quite ironically, it only uses 10% of it's premise, and so many other films have done what it itends to do better. Neil Burger already explored the 100% of the brain storyline with his 2011 film 'Limitless'. The flat, emotionless character Johansson plays in Lucy is limp in comparison to Bradley Cooper's struggling writer in the aforementioned. The 'Matrix' style elements of the film are also hugely disappointing, with little or nothing being made of the fact Lucy can manipulate objects with her mind and bend the laws of physics. What the audience is left with, is a protagonist who makes people float to the ceiling and do little or nothing more. 

So, if you go into the cinema expecting a modern day Matrix style film like we did (and as trailer suggests it is), you will come out feeling disappointed. That isn't to say 'Lucy' is a bad film though, as there are some gorgeous special effects that compliment the latter half of the film's dream like sequences. It is quite evident that Besson borrowed heavily from Nolan's 'Inception' for inspiration in these parts. 

I can't help but feel that if Luc Besson had used more than 5% of his brain, and gave the audience the action sequences they came to see the film for, 'Lucy' would be more of a box office success that it turns out to be. The trailer is misleading, and most of the audience will leave the auditorium feeling a little cheated I suspect. 

So what does Lucy get? 3.5 stars. Worth catching, but I would for the DVD.