'Lucy': Even the supersmart protagonist probably couldn't explain this movie
'Lucy' stars Scarlett Johansson as an American expat in Taiwan whose brain power is increased.
'Lucy' stars Scarlett Johansson as an American expat in Taiwan whose brain power is increased.
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.)