MOVIE REVIEW: Scarlett Johansson turns 'Lucy' into a tour de force
Producer of over 100 movies, a writer of 50 and director of about 20, the French-born Luc Besson is easily the film industry's most prolific creator of stylish action flicks, but is far from what many would consider its most talented. He has flirted with greatness on three occasions ('Leon: The Professional,' 'The Fifth Element' and 'La Femme Nikita'), but with 'Lucy,' Besson has created a bona fide genre masterpiece. A sci-fi action crowd-pleaser, it's also artsy, witty, highly intelligent and provides an astute examination of the human condition.
Clocking in at a water-tight 90 minutes, there's not a single wasted frame to be found, and the fast but not-too-quick editing makes every image count. This is especially effective in the opening salvo where Besson parallels what's happening to the title character (Scarlett Johansson) with the stalking of a gazelle by a cheetah on an African plain. Throughout the film there are other animal kingdom cutaways as well as archival clips from other movies that not only heighten the messages but offer immense comic relief.
Not what you might consider exceedingly bright, Lucy gets coerced by a guy she recently met at a bar to deliver a mystery briefcase to an even more mysterious Asian crime boss at a swanky hotel. Exactly what's in the case isn't revealed for what feels like forever - when in fact it's only mere minutes - and is testimony to Besson's patience. The slow and methodical unspooling of the scene results in almost unbearable tension and is the first of many dramatic and emotional narrative crescendos.
Lucy and three men have been nabbed by the crime boss to act as mules in order to smuggle a new synthesized drug into four international cities in a manner that will virtually defy detection or result in their capture. In Lucy's destination city her handlers make the huge mistake of roughing her up, thus letting vast quantities of the drug release into her nervous system. Her reaction, both physically and mentally, is another visual tour de force and immediately transformers her from timid victim into an exacting revenge machine.
During this first half of the movie, Besson gambles heavily with the possibility of losing the audience by regularly putting what's happening to Lucy on hold and focusing the attention on a lecture being given by Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman), a renowned brain expert of some sort. Despite being dry and clinical, the gamble pays off in spades because Norman describes, with the requisite brevity, what could happen when humans utilize more than the normal 10 percent of their brain.
When details of the plot began leaking online months ago, bloggers and nerds the world over began pooh-poohing Besson's premise, with detractors stating humans use anywhere between 3 and 100 percent of their gray matter with every breath they take. What these naysayers are all missing is - whether they're right or not - it just doesn't matter.
'Lucy' is a science-fiction movie. The premise doesn't have to make sense in the real world, just the one Besson conjures up and he does so without straying from it down the line to accommodate any errant, late-in-arriving subplots.
As much as a triumph the film is for Besson, it is doubly so for Johansson. Since her debut two decades ago as a child performer, Johansson's choices in roles have been hit or miss (mostly miss) and even when she's on ('Manny & Lo,' 'Lost in Translation,' 'Match Point,' 'Don Jon'), her limited range can't usually match the strength of the material she's interpreting.
The role of Lucy (which was first offered to Angelina Jolie) is perfectly suited to Johansson's often stilted delivery and quasi-blank facade. It's not unlike that of Arnold Schwarzenegger's title character in the 'Terminator' franchise; the role is designed to come across as calculating and emotionally neutral. In the first act - before the drug takes over - Lucy is more than emotional and Johansson is able to pull off the needed panic and fear with uncharacteristic effectiveness.
Longtime Besson fans will be pleased to hear that just because 'Lucy' is way smarter than his normal mindless boogie, it isn't at all lacking in action. The body count is high, there is lots of gunfire and plenty of ingenuous, well-choreographed chase scenes. This movie is proof positive that summer popcorn movies are capable of appealing all portions of the brain, no matter what percentage you might be utilizing at any given time. (Universal)
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