Is it good cinema? That depends on your tolerance for nonsense. If you need your science fiction to obey the laws of physics, Lucy will make you pull your hair out. If you need your action star to show emotion, Johansson’s robotic turn might frustrate you.
The ability to move objects with her mind and read the thoughts of others.
2014 was a massive year for Scarlett Johansson. She voiced Her (an AI operating system) and starred in Captain America: The Winter Soldier . But Lucy allowed her to do something unique: play a character who de-evolves emotionally while hyper-evolving intellectually. lucy 2014
The premise is deceptively simple. Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is a reckless American student living in Taipei, Taiwan. She is coerced by her new boyfriend into delivering a mysterious briefcase to a powerful gangster, Mr. Jang (Min-sik Choi, in a terrifying turn). When the deal goes sideways, Jang’s men knock her unconscious and surgically implant a bag of a synthetic drug called CPH4 into her lower abdomen, intending to force her to traffic the substance across international borders.
Realizing the power and danger of the CPH4, Lucy contacts Professor Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman), a leading neurologist who has dedicated his career to theorizing about the potential of the human brain. She seeks his guidance, and together, their knowledge becomes the only hope for humanity to understand the drug before the rest of the syndicate’s supply falls into the wrong hands. Is it good cinema
While the biology is shaky, the film’s exploration of transhumanism —the belief that the human race can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations—is compelling. Lucy asks what happens when we shed the biological shackles that define us. If we lose fear, desire, and mortality, do we lose our humanity? Or do we finally reach our full potential?
The score by Éric Serra complements the frenetic energy of the film. The music pulses with electronic beats during action sequences and swells into orchestral grandeur during the moments of intellectual revelation. It helps bridge the gap between the film’s identity as a popcorn flick and its aspirations as a think-piece. If you need your action star to show
Critics who disliked the film’s pseudo-science often praised its visceral action. Besson stages two major sequences that have become iconic: