Starring Scarlett Johansson

Lucy is a 2014 action film starring Scarlett Johansson and directed by Luc Besson. The film is about an american expat living in Taiwan called Lucy, she is kidnapped by drug dealers and has a bag placed in her stomach, when the bag starts leaking, Lucy is able to access more of her mind, over the 10% humans currently use (according to the film), when she is able to access other reaches of her mind she is able to do other things such as telekinesis, telepathy and the ability to change her appearance and metabolism at will.

The film's logic is not infallible, firstly the film's entire premise is based on little more than an urban myth, we now know that we use far more than 10% or our brain's capacity, and that defining it in percentage terms is illogical. Nonetheless the film takes this concept and applies it entirely literally. Secondly the film's ending, whilst poetic and beautiful, is never really explained, and the details of why Lucy's body starts to self destruct make little sense. Despite the film being slightly illogical, Lucy believes so wholeheartedly in it's concept that this matters little.

The film is enthusiastically and almost aggressively silly, currently, thanks in no small part to Christopher Nolan, modern blockbusters always take themselves far too seriously, and it is refreshingly to see a film that, if anything, doesn't take itself seriously enough, the film is content to be no more than a dumb action film, but if anything, it doesn't take itself seriously enough, this is a film that really has something to say about evolution and the future of mankind, but i am grateful that a Luc Besson film didn't try to be anything too paradigmatic.

The main character of Lucy is interesting, and hopefully the films success with Johansson above the marquee will finally convince Marvel Studios to greenlight a Scarlett Widow solo film. As lucy becomes more and more powerful, she becomes less empathetic and less human, this is perhaps intentional, but we reach a point when we can no longer view her as human, Lucy becomes almost invincible in the film's third act, and this is a problem as we the film eventually becomes less and less thrilling, because we are no longer scared about the safety of our heroine, Lucy also never interracts with her enemies, and although it is pretty cool to see Taiwanese gangsters fighting thin air, it would have been nice to have seen a true fist to fist fight scene.

Lucy is an oddly refreshing film, though it is riddled with logical gaps and pseudoscience, it is great to finally see a summer blockbuster that doesn't take itself  too seriously, that powers through it's ridiculousness with fun and thrills, and which is actually rather well made, Johansson provides a suitably gonzo performance in the title role, and despite being highly silly, Lucy is actually a lot of fun, provided one doesn't attempt to take it too seriously. Rating: B-

Lucy: Life was given to us a billion years ago. Now you know what you can do with it.