Lucy (2014)

IMDb Rating: 6/10

It was pretty to look at? That’s about the best thing I can say about this movie. I felt like I was on drugs while watching it. Not to mention the countless clichés: exposition through educational presentation (delivered by Morgan Freeman), beginning the film by talking about human evolution, inside the body shots to show the transformation occurring to the main character’s body. I hate those shots. It’s so 2002. And I didn’t even like it in the Spider-Man movies.

Lucy is exposed to a drug that allows her to use her brain’s full capacity (like in Limitless(2011)). To be fair, Lucy’s script was in the making for almost a decade, before Limitless came out. Regardless, both films have similar plots. As the story progresses, Lucy’s brain percentage increases, and so does my dislike. I liked the beginning, sort of. I thought it was interesting how there was virtually no back-story before Lucy was thrown into a terrifying drug operation, which leads to her new powers. It made the audience feel like we are getting thrown into it along with her. For some reason I liked the use of Discovery Channel animal stock footage to parallel a cheetah hunting a gazelle to Lucy getting apprehended by the drug lords when the deal goes sour. It was a cool juxtaposition, but the stock videos soon became overused.

It got very old very quickly the way Lucy was easily able to defeat any obstacle in her path. Sure, it was entertaining to see the different and creative ways she overpowers puny humans, but it still got old. Some parts were just utterly ridiculous and stretched the imagination. Like when she was vomiting multi-colored light after getting an IV of the drug. Why would that ever happen to you even if you did reach the full capacity of your brain?

Lastly, I’ll just say that I love Scarlett Johansson’s work and I thought she was great in this role. Her gravity and elegance was perfect. The visuals really were stunning, and that made the film captivating and entertaining. Otherwise? I’m just glad I didn’t spend the money to see it in theaters.