'Lucy': Even the supersmart protagonist probably couldn't explain this movie
Luc Besson makes nonsensical movies and so, of course, he was the聽perfect writer-director for 鈥淟ucy,鈥� a Scarlett Johansson headliner about聽an American expat in Taiwan who runs afoul of the local mob and ends聽up accidentally ingesting a blue crystal drug 鈥� don鈥檛 ask 鈥� and becoming聽supersmart.聽
We鈥檙e not talking the usual 10% brainpower smart here. As聽the action ramps up, the screen flashes her ascending cerebral wattage:聽first 20% (putting her on a par with dolphins, apparently) and then聽moving on up the scale to 100%, at which point she can do just about聽anything 鈥� except, I would wager, make sense of this movie.聽
I know聽we鈥檙e supposed to think that Besson鈥檚 daffy cinematic calisthenics are聽entertaining because at least they are not boring. But I was bored. It聽didn鈥檛 help that Morgan Freeman shows up as a brainy scientist聽explaining everything to us in his deepest intonations. When was the last聽time Freeman, a great actor, really acted?聽
And what鈥檚 up with Johansson鈥檚聽casting choices lately? She was terrific in 鈥淗er鈥� as a disembodied聽computer program and eerie as an alien in 鈥淯nder the Skin.鈥� Now this. I聽guess for her the abnormal is the new normal. Grade:聽C (Rated R for strong violence, disturbing images, and sexuality.)
