REVIEW — “Lucy”

“Lucy” is the kind of flick the misrepresents itself in its advertising in order to lure in a certain genre seeking audience that will not appreciate the end result. Billed as an action movie, but severely lacking in that category, we have a property that borrows from numerous other (better) stories, and doesn’t have a unique thought of its own. Decent acting, uninspired “action” scenes, and a terrible plot/script work against this instantly forgettable genre mash-up.

The story is my biggest issue with this whole thing. Not only does anyone with Google already know that the premise is completely impossible, and improbable, but the producers try to leave you with a lasting impression. When the story ends they are hoping that you’ll go home pondering life’s meaning and various other things, but that doesn’t work in something that we already know is impossible and can’t be true. I would have no problem with the ridiculous plot had they made this a balls to the wall, forget your brain, action movie, but they chose to try to give it some meaning, and hopes to make it thought provoking. You can’t have your cake, and eat it too (unless you’re Michael Bay).

The acting was what I expected. Scarlett Johansson can be pretty solid, or she can be just meh, and for me she falls into the latter. She wasn’t very convincing as either a bad-ass or the damsel in distress (early on in the film). She has her moments, on either side of that coin, but as a whole it felt like she wasn’t fully in this (not like when she is Black Widow). Morgan Freeman is Morgan Freeman. He is one of those actors that will never turn in a bad performance, and that’s why you constantly see people trying to get him in everything. Outside of that there is no one else that did anything worth remembering.

The action scenes were few and far between. For something billed as an action movie they ended up relying on a lot of boring gun fire, and lame, and grossly underutilized, psychic powers. We go from seeing her being beaten so this drug is released in her system, to her just having the ability to do practically anything, and that made for some non-thrilling action pieces. They had ample opportunities to razzle and dazzle us with some kick-assery, but chose to focus their attention on the non-story.

As a whole “Lucy” fails to define itself as anything in particular. It poorly dips into the Action, Drama, and Science Fiction genres, and borrows ideas from all sorts of different films instead of creating its own. “The Matrix,” “2001: A Space Odyssey ,” “Transcendence” and numerous other films’ ideas have been molded into this terrible plot, and in the worst possible ways. My buddy pointed out that this entire film could also work as a ridiculous prequel to the incredible film “Her.” (you’d agree if you saw this, but I suggest you don’t) Luc Besson (“The Professional” “The Fifth Element”) sure has changed for the worst as his career has progressed, and I’m officially no longer looking forward to anything he puts out. 2/5