Lucy is an entertaining hot mess of a movie

Director Luc Besson was a darling with movie critics and audiences with his particular brand of action films that had a touch of humanity to them – La Femme Nikita, The Professional, The Fifth Element, even the original The Trasnporter. But somewhere along the line, he completely went off the rails, writing and producing not very funny action-comedy films (Taxi) and family dramadies (The Family), while continuing to have a hand in neverending Transporter sequels, and even a TV version of Taxi (Taxi Brooklyn).

But the previews and concept for his latest effort, Lucy, had me intrigued. The story wonders what would happen if humans were somehow able to access 100% of their brain capacity (flouting the myth that we only use 10%)? Would we be infinitely more intelligent than the super-est super computer? Would we remember everything from the time we gained consciousness … or even all the way back to the Big Bang? Would we be able to manipulate our own bodies, electromagnetic waves, and the people and environment around us? It all sounds like an interesting premise for a movie.

Unfortunately, it seems like Besson did not tap into his full brain capacity when writing the script. That’s not to say Lucy is a bad movie though. Okay, it is a hot mess of a movie, but Besson still manages to make it visually entertaining even when pretty much nothing makes any sense. But he really should give Scarlett Johansson all the credit for at least making Lucy watchable.

When the movie starts, Lucy is tricked into delivering a briefcase to a mysterious Chinese man whom everyone is terrified to deal with (hence, Lucy’s boyfriend of one week handcuffing the case to her wrist and forcing her to make the delivery). Turns out the case contains four packages of a synthetic drug, CPH4, which is said to be a natural chemical mothers produce to aid in the growth of their fetuses. Before she knows it, Lucy is knocked unconscious and then wakes up to find she’s been the recipient of an operation. Not for organ harvesting, though. She and three men have been turned into drug mules with the bags sewn up in their gut.

Everyone is released to return to their home country, but Lucy somehow ends up in a dingy cell, chained to a wall and brutalized by the guards. Why? Plot contrivance, of course. Lucy is kicked IN THE STOMACH by a guard who should know better, causing the bag to rupture and instantly boosting Lucy’s brain capacity to 20% as the helpful title cards that pop up throughout the film tell us. And the first thing Lucy is able to do with that brain capacity? Levitate, naturally. And then it only gets sillier from there.

The film cuts between Lucy and Morgan Freeman’s scientist Professor Norman, who is delivering a lecture about the very same subject Lucy is experiencing, and Besson also helpfully illustrates the lecture with stock footage of various images, including animals humping. He also had to hit us over the head with footage of cheetahs stalking a gazelle during Lucy’s delivery of the briefcase so we humans with only 10% brain capacity could understand her peril. Thankfully, that stops.

From that point on, it’s a race as Lucy tries to get to Norman to show him that his theories are on the right track but she has to get past many obstacles, including the Chinese henchmen who want their drug back. She understands what’s happening to her, so she enlists a French policeman to go on her journey as a way to keep her connected to her humanity which is quickly fading.

Johansson is pretty terrific as Lucy. She brings amazing vulnerability to the character in the opening scenes, making you feel emotionally connected to her as she’s forced into a situation she has no business being in. She’s so good at drawing us in right at the start that even as she becomes more robotic and less feeling as she gets more and more intelligent, you still connect to her in much the same way audiences connected to her amazing voice work in last year’s Her. I think Johansson has always been under-rated or dismissed as an actor because of her early career choices, but as she matures and takes on a variety of roles from Black Widow in the Marvel movies to the alien of Under the Skin to Lucy, she is proving that she has the talent to do just about anything. It will be interesting to see where she goes as she gets older. (And I can’t imagine anyone else in the role now, including the originally cast Angelina Jolie.)

Freeman is fine in his small role, bringing his natural warmth to a character who could have been interested only in his studies and what was happening to Lucy, but he shows just as much concern for the person Lucy is as well. The rest of the multi-national cast fulfills their duty adequately.

For as stupid as the movie is – why does Lucy levitate an army of assailants when she could just as easily put them all to sleep as she did in a previous encounter – it’s also wildy entertaining even in the most frustratingly ridiculous moments. (Why are cars flying and rolling around as Lucy makes her first getaway? Is she doing it? Who knows. If she is, then she’s becoming one of those monstrous computers from sci-fi films of yore which have no regard for human life.) Even with all the WTF moments, Besson’s style manages to make the movie a wild ride … and then it suddenly ends!

I’m usually not one to say “boy, I wish that movie was longer,” but Lucy seems like it really could have used another 30 minutes to explore what was happening to Lucy instead of focusing on the mayhem that followed her. In more thoughtful hands, Lucy could have been the movie Transcendence thought it was. If Besson had had a little more about what Lucy was becoming instead of leaving us with the same look of “what now” on our faces as Morgan Freeman has when presented with a Blingee flash drive, Besson could have had a film that harkened back to his earlier successes. Unfortuntely, he seems more concerned about all of his excesses these days.

So I’m torn about recommending Lucy to movie-goers. Is it entertaining? Without a doubt. Is it worth paying full price at the theater? That depends on your love of mindless action and Scar-Jo. This is a tough call. Even Rotten Tomatoes is having a hard time deciphering the critical response to the film, marking many reviews as “fresh” which clearly are not because everyone else is just as confused as entertained as I was. So, dear reader, I will have to leave this decision to you. Will you love Lucy or just find it was an incredible waste of time and talent?