Lucy movie review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic reviews....

So Lucy is a sci-fi action film, from one of my favourite directors, Luc Besson. It stars Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Amr Waked, & Min-Sik Choi. The film revolves around a drug, that allows people to use more of their brain (similar to Limitless). However, where Limitless takes a more grounded and realistic approach, Lucy takes a more sci-fi approach with the drug slowly allowing someone to have superpowers. Does this approach work as well? Honestly, not really.

Scarlett Johansson as Lucy

Okay, let's start with the good parts in the film. First off, the actors in the film (for the most part) did a good job. Scarlett Johansson does a decent job in the film, bringing some of what she used as Black Widow to the role, and even some of her unnerving look in Under the Skin. The biggest standouts (to me) however, were the two relatively unknown actors, Min-Sik Choi & Amr Waked. Min-Sik Choi played the villain of the film, and as a villain he does a pretty good job. He was menacing, he was intense when he needed to be. Amr Waked plays a cop who works with Lucy, and to me, he was the best character in the film, as well as the best performance. He had some pretty good lines, he was the most relatable in the film, and he was cool when he needed to be.

Amr Waked as Pierre Del Rio

The cinematography is also beautiful here, which is pretty much a given when considering it's a Luc Besson film. The film has some really vibrant colours, well placed and well done shots, you can definitely see the effort put into the shots and angles in the film. It also has those Luc Besson-isms, mainly slow motion, which work well for the most part. There are times, especially in the first few minutes of the film, where these stranger aspects don't work nearly as well. For example, there's this weird gimmick in the first twenty minutes, where the scene randomly cuts to a clip of an animal doing something, as to represent the situation of the characters, which creates two problems there. One, it's out of place and (for lack of a better word) pretentious. Two, it only happens in the first few minutes of the film, and never again.

Min-Sik Choi as Mr. Jang

The story is where the film kinda falls flat, and for a few reasons. One, the characters are poorly developed. You know nothing about the protagonist, and you don't get to know the character at all. Morgans Freemans character is kind of a dud, without any really personality besides playing Morgan Freeman. And when Lucy starts to have extremely powerful abilities, like telekinesis, and controlling everything around her, there's no tention. It's the same problem I have with the Matrix sequels, where you know Neo is an unstoppable being, which makes the action scenes boring. The same happens here, and it has the same effect here. Boredom.

Final Rating

Lucy is, despite being an ambitious film (for which I will give it some points), is just alright. I usually love Luc Bessons films, like The Fifth Element, or La Femme Nikita, but this one I just found to be good enough. I'd say Lucy is a good time, but not a very memorable one.

Lucy: 3.3/5