Sunday 3 August 2014

Film Review - Lucy




Big Bang Theory

Film: Lucy
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman
Directed by: Luc Besson
Duration: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: *  *  

French Director Luc Besson makes those leave-your-brains-behind kind of action films like Taken, Transporter and the Taxi franchise. He tried his hand at sci-fi with The Fifth Element and this enterprise, Lucy, is a cross between science fiction and a superhero film. 

The films poster says that “an average person uses 10% of their brain capacity. Imagine what she could do with 100%.” Right away you know that you can’t take the science or the fiction too seriously. Once we have that out of the way, you can just sit back and enjoy what comes your way.

Set in Taipei, Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is a student who is forced to deliver a briefcase by her friend. Reluctantly, she does that only to be kept captive by the gangster dealing in drugs.  A packet of a new lethal drug is stitched inside her and when it breaks, Lucy can start increasing her brain capacity and do the unthinkable, like control just about anything and everything around her. 

Seeking revenge, Lucy sets out on a mission to destroy the mafia boss and the drugs. Morgan Freeman plays a scientist who knows a thing or two about unlocking the powers of the brain and is an expert in that field. 

There is a scene at the beginning where Freeman talks about the evolution of mankind and the usage of the brain (reminiscent ofAlain Resnais’ My American Uncle) that was fine but later when they tried to juxtapose science and the action it got a little farfetched at the point. If there was any metaphysical point that was made, then I missed it. 

But still Lucy provides a few thrills – it is fast paced, has a decent concept which is hypothetically interesting.  Since it is a Luc Besson film, a car chase on the streets of Paris is mandatory.  The direction otherwise is pedestrian, as it usually happens in Bollywood films, what is shown on screen is also explained with dialogue. “Look the computer is moving” a character says – the audience doesn’t have to be told that, they can clearly see that the computer is moving.

Scarlett Johansson is first rate, whether it is the action or the trauma scenes, she pull it off convincingly. Clearly Besson has used 10% of the brain while writing the screenplay, else Lucy would have been even more fun.  


Published in The Navhind Times on 3rd Aug 2014 




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