Lucy

Film Review by Josh Slater-Williams | 22 Aug 2014
Film title: Lucy
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Amr Waked, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Pilou Asbæk, Analeigh Tipton
Release date: 22 Aug
Certificate: 15

Rock legends Spinal Tap once philosophised that there’s a fine line between stupid and clever, and Luc Besson’s loony Lucy may be the filmic epitome of those wise sages’ words. It applies that oft-mocked notion that we only use up to 10% of our brain capacity (which Morgan Freeman’s scientist admittedly describes as a hypothesis rather than full-blown theory) to an action fantasy template, wherein the title character (Scarlett Johansson on spirited form) goes from unwilling drug mule to transcendent superhuman when an experimental pharmaceutical leaks all over her innards.

Besson, in maximalist mode and on his best form in two decades, fully commits to his daft premise with energising gusto, with smarts filtered less into narrative (as may be gathered by the basic plot and the pseudoscientific babble glossing over the logic gaps) and more into Lucy’s frequently zany aesthetic craft. Thriving on incredibly assured and at times beautiful visual finesse, Besson’s increasingly and thrillingly wide-reaching flight of fancy is like an electrifying mash-up of Nikita, superhero movies, Akira, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Koyaanisqatsi, Nicolas Roeg films, and The Tree of Life. And this brisk, vibrant, batshit adrenaline rush even works as a strangely plausible prequel to Her.