Lucy Review

You are about to read a movie review that may contain small spoilers. You have been warned…..skip to the bottom for the tl;dr.

Overview

Lucy, a film about one woman who’s thrown into utilizing 100% of her grey matter stars Scarlett Johansson as Lucy and Morgan Freeman as Professor Norman. That first sentence is important because most reviews focus on Lucy’s violent abduction into human drug trafficking and they miss the heart of the entire movie. Director Luc Besson uses some dark imagery and disturbing abuse to get the more important part of the movie which is the potential of the human brain.

Lucy is a student living in Taipei, Taiwan who gets involved with a guy who tricks her into delivering a package to Taiwanese gangster Mr. Jang. Forced to go through with the delivery it soon goes wrong and Lucy is then kidnapped by Mr. Jang and forced to smuggle a new drug into Europe via her abdomen. While being held in a holding cell Lucy is confronted by some of Jang’s men and she tries to resist. Lucy is kicked, punched and worked over pretty violently causing the bag of drugs in her abdomen to burst. The drug leaks into her body causing a reaction and suddenly enhancing her abilities in some extraordinary ways.

Morgan Freeman plays Professor Norman, a scientist working on the idea that humans could potentially use more than the 10% of their brains we currently use. His theories touch on the idea that our brains, if properly utilized, would allow us to control other humans, matter and beyond. There are people who do believe these types of theories and this is where you as a viewer need to let go of your beliefs for the rest of the film. I’m a big Morgan Freeman fan but I think his role here was sorely under used. He could have offered so much more to this film had his character been written differently, but I digress.

Lucy contacts Professor Norman and explains to him what is happening to her. Norman is obviously skeptical but is quickly convinced when Lucy takes over all of his electronic devices. As the movie goes on, Lucy continues to gain more use of her brain as the clock counts up to 100%. Throughout she is being pursued by Mr. Jang and his men as they want their drugs back. The action is non-stop and for an action junkie such as myself, it was quite good.

Back to the top of this review. Lucy is a great action film, lots of blood, killing and things blowing up but beyond that it speaks to what we as humans could potentially attain. There’s going to be debate about the use of 100% of our brains and that’s OK. I have no clue if we could attain the use of 100% of our brains or not but what I do believe is that we certainly could go beyond our current 10% usage. These numbers are all debatable, scientists and scholars are free to argue their points, research and give us the data. There’s really no point for us laymen movie goers to debate it to thoroughly. You can either believe it is possible or not believe it.

Hit or Miss?

Lucy was awesome! Lots of action and lots of cool effects and things blowing up. Be warned, leave your beliefs at the door otherwise you may get over critical which could cause you to not enjoy the movie. The subject matter is one that could spark debate among different people and their belief systems but the broader picture and message is that we could be using more of our brain than we currently are. This is worth throwing your money at in the theater IF you are willing to let go and just be entertained. My only complaint was the under use of Morgan Freeman, his character could have made a bigger impact than it did and to under use an actor of his caliber is a sin.

Last Updated on November 27, 2018.