In the modern era of filmmaking there is rarely a film that falls into just one genre. Filmmakers are constantly finding ways to re-invent stories and discover new ways to procure movie lovers hard earned dollars. However, sometime the marriage of genres goes horribly wrong and they create an abomination of the mixture. One of the best examples of this conjoining gone awry is Lucy.
Lucy is a convoluted, inadequate epitaph that uses some first rate cinematography as subterfuge to overcompensate for the shortcomings of a lackluster film. The film is a mind bending convergence of a thought provoking topic that is fused with elements of an action thriller in the futile effort to give a fresh perspective on the uniting of science-fiction, science-fact, and action. The movie stars Scarlett Johansson (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Morgan Freeman (Last Vegas), Amir Waked (Contagion), Min-Sik Choi (Oldboy 2003), and Analeigh Tipton (Warm Bodies).
Lucy tells the story of a young woman who is the victim of unfortunate circumstances. She is forced to smuggle the drug cph-4 (DEFINE) (found in small doses in the womb’s of mothers that pass it on to their children), it is accidentally released into her blood stream and then begins an unbelievable process of increasing her intelligence to 100% usage of her brain.
Lucy is one of the more disappointing films of 2014. It had a lot of potential that it never realized, unfortunately Lucy falters big time. This catastrophe is the perfect example of how to ruin a film. It has a number of glaring shortcomings such as it’s not well defined, it’s far too short, and like some other recent movies it really suffers from its advertising campaign.
The biggest issue with the film is that Lucy is not clearly defined. While a number of movies blend genres successfully, Lucy is not one. With the movie focusing on two aspects, it has a difficult time differentiating what it was to be. The creators couldn’t decide whether it’s a deep thought provoking film or an action film, but it never really takes a stand and gives you enough of either. If it is supposed to be a deep thought provoking film; it never really delves into the subject matter beyond a superficial nature. Consequently, the movie doesn't have anywhere near enough action to be a true full on action movie. Also, most of the action was given away in the trailers, certainly the best action sequences were used anyway. The next big issue is the running time. Lucy is roughly only 90 min and whizzes by at warp speed. It never gives the audience too much depth to Lucy’s broadening intelligence. We're presented with a quick example and then it’s off to the next one to make sure that we see Lucy on the path to attaining her 100% brain capacity.
Despite its multitude of shortcomings, Lucy does have some bright spots. There are amusing epitaphs of human evolution, Lucy implements the use of images of early man that helps to establish a foundation for the story. The usage of random animals, cougars/leopard, and mice taking bait; make for good entertainment which helps to enhance the understanding of the subject matter. The movie also starts off with some very good intensity in its opening moments, and creates a great level of anticipation as it preps the audience for Lucy’s transformation. Finally, Lucy has first rate cinematography, it is a stunning visual spectacle. Lucy makes great use of modern technology that really accentuates this story. The movie manages to meld imagery with the story that really enables it to come to life. The visualization of Lucy broadening abilities is incredible.
Even with this disaster’s many inadequacies, Scarlett Johansson puts on a great performance, and it may just be her best yet. Lucy’s fails on a number of levels but it’s clearly not because of her performance, for Johansson’s depiction of the title character makes this tragedy endurable. She goes from party girl to vulnerable to indestructible with ease, and portraying all with a high level of belief.
I had high, high hopes for Lucy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come close to satisfying any of them. Lucy has a great premise that makes you drool at its possibilities. If you factor in the trailers and the marketing then it just makes this unfortunate tease even more of a tragedy. Lucy is decent; however, I wouldn't suggest hitting the theaters or even buying, just wait for it to show up on Netflix, SKY, Redbox or Cable.
Da’Mon is a writer and artist, a graduate of Coppin State University and an avid, life-long lover of film. Da'Mon has been actively writing movie reviews since 2011. Check out more of his work at Examiner.com, where he has published over 400 reviews. Visit his Blog and follow him on Twitter.
