Lucy (2014)

[Cranberry]

I had no idea this movie existed until tonight, but it's apparently an upcoming action thriller starring Scarlett Johansson, seemingly does not feature a love story, and has lots of cool special effects. The whole "humans only use 10% of their brains" thing annoys me (that's not true at all), but I can get past that for a fun-looking, female-fronted action film.

 

[Crim]

Luc Besson back to action movies with a female lead. Scarlett Johansson as the lead. This could not possibly seem more promising.

 

About the 10% thing, Besson said in an interview that he knows it's a silly idea, but he was (paraphrasing heavily here) "Fuck it. I'll go with that." He's been writing it for 10 years and, in that time, he talked to some scientists about the ideas in the script - he doesn't say that helped any though - lol.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Crim

[lottiedottie]

I looked through previous topics, but didn't see a similar thread but if one exists, please point me in the right direction.

 

I keep seeing the trailer for Lucy, a movie that starts Scarlet Johannson. I didn't think it would be possible for me to dislike her even more than I currently do, but after seeing her in that trailer I'm having trouble controlling my eye rolls. She uses 100% of her brain! Puh-leeze.

[Cranberry]

Reviews are coming in. Mostly positive so far! It sounds like it's kind of cheesy/dumb, but fun to watch. I'll take it.

[Athena]

ScarJo is not the reason I am watching this, but Luc Besson is! I've seen most of his films so I'm looking forward to the action stuff at least.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I wasn't sure where to put this, here or in the Race & Ethnicity thread, but since its specifically about Lucy I'll take a chance and put it here. I apologize if this isn't correct, mods, and please fix my mistake.

 

http://afternoonsnoozebutton.com/post/92638318835/honestly-curious-why-does-it-offend-you

 

I'm withholding judgement because I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am moderately tweaked at what seems to be an assumption that my own mind would never leap to.

[Ohwell]

Now don't get me wrong, the movie might be really good, and she might be a very intelligent person IRL, but connecting Scarlett Johansson with "IQ" is hilarious to me.

[xls]

It's a myth that we only use 10% http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_percent_of_brain_myth

The movie does look good though, I'll wait till its on cable.

[canter]

My 9-year-old son saw the trailer for this and said he wonders if the name Lucy was chosen in reference to the Australopithecus afarensis named Lucy who is (or was at one point, it may not be true anymore) the earliest hominid discovered by scientists. She was the first of her kind (in a way), and ScarJo's Lucy is the first of her kind too. I thought it was a good observation!

[Sandman]

Just saw the movie tonight, and I can tell you your 9-year-old is really clever.

 

It's both mind-blowing and deeply silly, in its way. The action sequences are very cool and ScarJo is both badass and moving. The movie's darker and more violent than I was expecting.

[Rick Kitchen]

My 9-year-old son saw the trailer for this and said he wonders if the name Lucy was chosen in reference to the Australopithecus afarensis named Lucy who is (or was at one point, it may not be true anymore) the earliest hominid discovered by scientists. She was the first of her kind (in a way), and ScarJo's Lucy is the first of her kind too. I thought it was a good observation!

 

Very insightful, as the movie points neon arrows that way over and over again.

ScarJo is the perfect actress for this role, as the part asks for a stoic character and that's her go-to expression.

 

The problem with people claiming racism because Lucy shoots Asian people don't seem to realize that she goes on a mass murder spree in Paris, full of white people.

[ribboninthesky1]

I haven't seen the film, but one point made in the linked critique was that Lucy shot a Taiwanese man for not speaking English.  Does she do the same to a French person?

[Rick Kitchen]

She murders people on the street in Paris for no reason whatsoever except that they're in her way.  And the guy she shoots for not speaking English, she only shoots in the leg.

Edited July 27, 2014 by Rick Kitchen

[stealinghome]

It's both mind-blowing and deeply silly, in its way. The action sequences are very cool and ScarJo is both badass and moving. The movie's darker and more violent than I was expecting.

Yeah, I saw it earlier today and I'm not sure what to think of the movie (other than that it's totally not what I expected). It aspires to be deep, but is actually deeply superficial, I think...so it's mind-blowing, but a very surface level mind-blowing. I'm just not sure how much there is there, you know? I ended up feeling like 30 minutes HAD to have been cut--but then I wonder, if they exist, if they were cut because they don't add anything and show how little is at the core. Ultimately I think the movie didn't really know what it wanted to be--action movie, super deep exploration of life, realistic, total science fiction, in the magical realism genre--and it showed.

 

I will say the first 45 minutes of the film are pretty horrifying. My heart was pounding and I was cringing for Lucy the whole time. Just very, very well done on all fronts. And despite not having that much screentime together, Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johansson had a really nice rapport. The two best scenes for me were the one where she first talks to him, on the TV, and also the scene where she called her mom. Both were surprisingly emotional in a movie that is otherwise not that interested in emotion.

[Actionmage]

I saw it yesterday, but my husband and I came out feeling unsatisfied, possibly even a little dis-satisfied. Mostly because it was such a hodge-podge of ideas. They are ideas worth exploring, and I trust Mr. Besson to tell me a good fun and/or smart (sometimes both) story.

 

Yet.

 

While I totally agree with stealinghome  that the scene with Lucy calling her mom was one of the best scenes of the movie, all around that scene was such a calm shock that she got  everything that was going on around her--her friend's worsening kidneys, languages, feeling life pulsing all around her, etc.- but it came across to me as apathy/indifference. Which was not present when she was talking to Mom. (Btw, I kept expecting Mom to ask if Lucy was on drugs. I told DH that then Lucy could say, "Yeah, but I'm at the hospital now and feeling better." Or something comforting. Because that kind of phonecall isn't scary or confusing for Mom who is halfway around the world.Naw. It's just a shame Dad missed you.)

 

Yet.

Lucy, in the plane, is having major problems that the Bathroom Solution doesn't seem to be solving. Fast cut to French hospital with French cops being told by French Doctor that she's been sedated and no one has to worry about anything for a while (heehee, snickers the knowing audience.) Who and how the eff did Lucy get from the plane bathroom to the hospital, much less disrobed and "sedated"?!  I roll a 20 and disbelieve the Bathroom Solution just took a little time. (Note to effects house: nice body horror, thanks. I may not sleep for a couple of nights. I mean that as a compliment, not a complaint, even though I may not sleep well for a couple of nights.)

 

Yet.

We were left with no resolution/hinted at resolution for the synthetic CPH3! We were not told via card/scroll if the Captain knew who Jang's "cook" was and so helped his fellow law enforcement in Taiwan shut this extremely nasty shit down. Or if anyone other than Jang knew who the chemist/cook was? Was it the slimy, English-accented Suit Dude (in charge of passports and "little slits")? Was it someone else?

 

Yet.

Lucy, by this time in Paris, can do quite a lot that has been demonstrated in cannon/on-screen: sleep folks, invisibly restrain folks, modify her body, scan others' minds and bodies for information, and manipulate electronic systems. So why the car chase to the hospital for the Blue Death? Sleep the undesired folks. If you must have cars chase all over Paris, why drive only on one way streets? Is Paris so lousy with one way streets that there was no other option? Like the Metro? Where she could catch a couple of seconds to become a different-looking Lucy until she and the Captain get to the hospital? The crashing cars were not even that exciting, and I love me some car chases and flips, but they were truly unnecessary. (Poor stupid Parisian who could hear cars screeching and decided he could sit next to a pedestrian market.) I know, she didn't care at that point because Knowledge and Brain Unlocking, but you have to have bought that particular bit of Besson's thesis for the movie to work. 

 

When the Invisible Car ("how can you prove it exists?") showed up, I felt that this may be Mr. Besson's midlife crisis- not that he has to have pretty ladies star in films, but the emphasis of Time. I feel for him if that was part of what prompted the script; I don't want to not leave my kids and their kids, etc. with nothing/no lessons I gleaned/ no wisdom I'd obtained. While Mr. Besson is 55  or in that neighborhood (and still youngish, says the 48 year old *g*), it seems that he is saying with this movie, imo, that we are farting away our lives. The ending line comes across as we are ignorant children that need to be told how to live A Good/Better Life, So Go Do It Now. 

 

I turned to the DH after and said," I think this is the first philosophical Action Movie." (It may not be; I'd have to hunt around to be certain.) That said, a couple of plots that deserved more room (and time!) than this movie allowed (imo) were: The Brain Capacity story intrigued me and got me interested, but was largely Morgan Freeman saying most of his papers dealt with theory (which I understand) and trying to exposition Big Ideas into Understandable Chunks For The Masses. The Made Super But It's Not Cool In The Least was amazingly handled. Except it took narrative tension away because Lucy Knows Everything.

 

As I said, I wasn't satisfied, but for reasons of half-bakedness, I believe. Not that the subject(s) aren't worth exploring, just that the execution seemed un-thought out. Ms. Johansson was incredible, as was the Captain. Morgan Freeman got to be his usual self.

[AimingforYoko]

One sentence critique of Lucy: It was ridiculous, but fun as hell. Right in Besson's wheelhouse.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Saw it this afternoon, and really enjoyed it. It was actually less violent than I thought it would be. From reading the article accusing the movie of being racist, I was expecting Lucy to be dropping bodies left and right, but mostly she just put the Yakuza(?) guys to sleep and suspended them in mid-air. It was typical summer fare, and I'll probably buy the DVD when it comes out.

[AimingforYoko]

I was expecting Lucy to be dropping bodies left and right, but mostly she just put the Yakuza(?) guys to sleep and suspended them in mid-air.

They were Korean.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I stand corrected, @AimingforYoko . I assumed they were mobsters of some sort because of the numerous dead bodies they already had in the suite before they hauled Lucy into the room.

[RadiantAerynSun]

As a big fan of The Fifth Element I have to ask - do you think I would enjoy this movie? Is it a mix of dark humor and action and silliness? I'm not a huge "action movie" fan but I just loved The Fifth Element.

[Sandman]

Pretty sure the Korean drug dealer's gang  were still mobsters -- just Korean ones, instead of Japanese.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

As a big fan of The Fifth Element I have to ask - do you think I would enjoy this movie? Is it a mix of dark humor and action and silliness? I'm not a huge "action movie" fan but I just loved The Fifth Element.

IMO, you would. It is a bit philosophical, as Lucy sometimes drifts into tangents about the things she can see and feel as the changes in her body continue, and there's surprisingly little shoot-em-up stuff, except at the end. Lucy is less like Leeloo than she is like Alice, actually, because unlike Leeloo she isn't a stranger to this world, and knows exactly what's happening to her.

[arc]

I turned to the DH after and said," I think this is the first philosophical Action Movie." (It may not be; I'd have to hunt around to be certain.)

Matrix 1 & 2 had more thoughtful philosophy ("what is objective reality" and "what is free will") than Lucy, which had some foofaraw about "what is the purpose of life" but with giant heaping bullshit like "cells in a hostile environment choose immortality rather than reproduction", which... I mean, what? Made no sense.

I was disappointed in the action too. The car chase was perfunctory and made no sense in the context of the story (Lucy could easily have put the chasing drivers to sleep or remotely turned their cars off). The gunfights were generally disappointing.

And her powers weren't really thought through either. She can reshape her body at will, not just changing hair but even turning her hand into a claw or webbed -- and this before the final blue crystal upgrade -- but she can't reconfigure her brain at will to unlock the final 20-30% without more of the drug? Oy.

I like Johansson more than Bradley Cooper, but I liked Limitless more than Lucy, and I didn't even like Limitless that much.

[GreekGeek]

Lucy could easily have put the chasing drivers to sleep or remotely turned their cars off.

 

I thought of this, too, and I'm usually a dummy about plot holes. That was a lot of innocent bystanders at risk/dead! I also wondered why the baddies didn't just take some of the drug themselves and confront Lucy on equal terms, instead of trying to kill a Superwoman with old-fashioned bullets.

 

I was really impatient at first, with the nature photography juxtaposed with Richard's death and Lucy's kidnapping. It seemed a silly gimmick, but fortunately it was dropped after awhile. I never quite got past the junk science uttered with such seriousness, but I did have to admit the periodic cut to the percentages was effective at ratcheting up the tension. It blew my mind when Lucy traveled through time at the end, and became God to the original "Lucy." Suddenly seeing dinosaurs was as shocking as it was in The Tree of Life!

[Rick Kitchen]

The Indians on horseback bugged me, because Lucy was sitting in the area that would become New York, and the Indians who lived there didn't have horses before the arrival of white people who built the city.

[Cranberry]

I didn't like this as much as I'd hoped to. It started off strong; I was tense watching her in the hotel lobby (although I thought the shots of cheetahs and a gazelle were unnecessary -- the predator/prey idea came through without them) and in the suite full of men, with Lucy not understanding a word anyone said. The maniacally laughing junkie was great and unsettling. I liked the initial progression of the drug's effects, especially in the scenes with her roommate and the two laptops on the plane. It lost me once she started disintegrating and being able to see wireless data streams in the air. I also just couldn't get past the fact that the entire movie was based on wildly inaccurate science; I tried to roll with it but ended up rolling my eyes through Morgan Freeman's lecture. I felt like the film was trying to be more intelligent than it was. I didn't expect it to be a mindless action flick, but I would have liked more action and less philosophical musing about time. 

 

My biggest issue, though, was that Lucy had no problem injuring or killing innocent people (or letting them die because of her actions, like in the car chase scene and in the university shoot-out), but she wouldn't just kill Jang and Jii. She knew that Mr. Jang was bad news and she had no use for him; why stop at a couple of knives through his hands? I mean, we wouldn't have had much of a movie if she just dispatched all the bad guys early on, collected the drugs from the other mules, and then moseyed on over to Professor Norman's place to catalog all of her knowledge, but it didn't make much sense.

[King of Birds]

It blew my mind when Lucy traveled through time at the end, and became God to the original "Lucy." Suddenly seeing dinosaurs was as shocking as it was in The Tree of Life!

 

This is mostly a question for those who are Stephen King Dark Tower fans, and also saw LUCY.

 

In LUCY, she pretty much has a "vision" that on reflection reminds me of The Man in Black's speech to Roland at the end of The Gunslinger.

“The greatest mystery the universe offers is not life but size. Size encompasses life, and the Tower encompasses size."

 

Did anyone else perhaps connect this? I know some people have not liked the "philosophy" parts of Lucy, but I enjoyed it.  (Mostly because I've thought far too much how a filmmaker TBD will eventually tackle this scene when they make the DT series ... at some point in the future.)

Edited August 3, 2014 by King of Birds

[Sandman]

Maybe I'm giving the movie too much credit, but I was thinking that Lucy didn't move against Mr. Jang except to drive those knives into his hands in a really exceptionally gruesome way, yikes, because she was no longer human enough to care. She killed people or left them to die mostly at the beginning of her transformation; I thought it pretty clear that she was reacting out of fear. Her fear was a by-product of her human limitations, and beyond a certain point, her goal was to evolve, rather than to preserve any semblance of her human life or to protect anyone else. I agree that the movie wanted to pretend it was smarter than it actually was (and trying to make a link between "immortality in a hostile environment" (... henh?) and Dissolving Lucy in the Sky with Pixels made absolutely no sense of any kind whatsoever), but that part kinda sorta almost made sense to me.

Edited August 6, 2014 by Sandman

[Cobalt Stargazer]

And FWIW, when the police captain asks her why she wants him to come along with her when she had just waved her hand and all the mobster guys floated up to the ceiling, except for the one she just froze in place. He says, "You don't seem to need me." And she gives him a very quick kiss and says, "I do. As a reminder." I presumed that she meant his presence reminded her of what being human was like, since she goes from shaking and terrified to cold and remote almost immediately after she gets the drug in her system.

[stealinghome]

He says, "You don't seem to need me." And she gives him a very quick kiss and says, "I do. As a reminder." I presumed that she meant his presence reminded her of what being human was like, since she goes from shaking and terrified to cold and remote almost immediately after she gets the drug in her system.

That was my take on what she meant as well.

 

And yeah, I don't want to pay to see the movie again, but one of the things that fascinates me in thinking about it now is Lucy's slide from being human to something else, and I would like to rewatch some time with an eye to that transformation specifically. For example, take the phone call to her mom. To me, that was such a fascinating moment, because it was something at once so deeply human (when we're upset, what do we want to do? We want to talk to our mom), and yet I also think Lucy called her mother in that moment because some part of her realized that she would soon stop caring about human attachments, and wanted to give her mother this one last moment while she was still aware enough to know it was important, because later she wouldn't care enough to do it. And then she seemed to have moments of connection with the roommate and Morgan Freeman, but they were more distant and muted, and ditto for the policeman. The way Lucy was both inside and outside of the "evolution" was interesting.

 

But with that said, yeah, I have to agree that it seemed silly to me that she let Jang live but had no problem killing/seriously endangering innocent people (the car chase comes to mind, as does Jang's men coming for her in the school). There was maybe a little more dialogue needed there to show Lucy's thought process.

[Sandman]

For example, take the phone call to her mom. To me, that was such a fascinating moment, because it was something at once so deeply human (when we're upset, what do we want to do? We want to talk to our mom), and yet I also think Lucy called her mother in that moment because some part of her realized that she would soon stop caring about human attachments, and wanted to give her mother this one last moment while she was still aware enough to know it was important, because later she wouldn't care enough to do it.

 

That's definitely how I saw it. A good part of the impact of that scene was that Lucy realized it was a final goodbye.

 

I'm not sure that more dialogue would have illuminated Lucy's thought process better, because -- well, because Besson. He's kind of a form-over-function guy, I'd say. 

 

But I don't buy the reviews that criticize Johansson for giving an uninvolved or uninvolving performance. One online review I saw even said the filmmaker lost touch with Lucy's humanity! (Miss the point, much?)

Edited August 6, 2014 by Sandman

[Actionmage]

Yeah, whatever my misgivings of this movie, Scarlet is not one! I wished we could have just a itty bit more of a tell from ZOMGShockFearForMyLife! to WTFIsInsideMe?! to Woah! to Damn, I'm losing the ability to care about stuff I used to care about a lot to 'I need you to help me remember what Humanity is'.  The walking into the hospital portion was sort of a mini arc, in that she was going from 'I can see and feel everything!' to 'You couldn't save him anyway' to her call to her mom.

 

The second part of that last example was treated in such a throwaway manner, probably to keep the film going and to reflect Lucy's take on the situation in equal parts, but how would that doctor cope? Did he know already that there was a better than zero chance that operation couldn't really help his patient? If he didn't, how could he come to grips enough to continue in his profession, being shown that the diagnostic measure we currently have either failed him and the patient, or that the diagnostic measures we have are not good enough to show the doctors what they need to help heal? ( I know, it's called Lucy, not Dr. 'Taipei Surgeon'.)

[ketchuplover]

Scar Jo seems to have a thing for oozing black stuff. See Under The Skin for more

[shrewd.buddha]

It was escapist fun, but also a mess. The first half was the best : it pulled you in immediately with Lucy's dire situation. But it got less coherent as it went along. 

 

The notion that controlling more of your brain function could give you super powers outside of your body was pretty far-fetched -- an okay sci-fi notion -- but to have a professor lecturing other intellectuals as if this was based on some type of actual research -- was a bit much.

 

We also noticed that Lucy was pretty cavalier about all the destruction and deaths of innocents she caused - despite other options her super-brain could have come up with..

[Cobalt Stargazer]

We also noticed that Lucy was pretty cavalier about all the destruction and deaths of innocents she caused - despite other options her super-brain could have come up with..

 

I said this upthread, but I don't think she was so much cavalier as she was literally unable to care, even though she might have wanted to. You'll notice that she becomes very stoic and almost robot-like pretty much right after the drug takes effect, and that was when she was still being held captive. Once she escapes and is rushing to get to where the professor is, the emotional shutdown is continuing, and that's what the call to her mother is partly about. Not just to tell us, the viewers, about the changes that are happening, but for her character to say goodbye, because as her brain power is expanding, she's losing the ability to care about personal attachments.

[Bruinsfan]

You'll notice that she becomes very stoic and almost robot-like pretty much right after the drug takes effect

How can one differentiate that from how Johansson acts in every other role?

[Rickster]

It was escapist fun, but also a mess. The first half was the best : it pulled you in immediately with Lucy's dire situation. But it got less coherent as it went along.

Sort of agree, but come down on the "mess" side rather than the "fun", certainly after the first half hour. I wonder if a lot was left on the cutting room floor, or if it was just an incoherent plot to begin with. Edited February 26, 2015 by Rickster

[BooBear]

Yeah, I saw it earlier today and I'm not sure what to think of the movie (other than that it's totally not what I expected). It aspires to be deep, but is actually deeply superficial, I think...so it's mind-blowing, but a very surface level mind-blowing. I'm just not sure how much there is there, you know? I ended up feeling like 30 minutes HAD to have been cut-

 

I just saw this and was disappointed because basically, it just was so not the way I thought it was going to go and it feels like it got lost about 1/2 way though.   It was if someone had a good idea with no ending. I have no idea what Lucy was doing there at the end and she became so unemotional it sort of made me wonder if I cared anymore.  Mostly I thought she was going to use her powers to put some nasty revenge on the drug dealers who took her. That just naturally seemed to be a part of what was going to happen in this movie, then, blam, Lucy is like off doing her thing and we get to watch the drug dealers killing tons of innocents. Who wants to see that? I wouldn't watch it again.

[Amethyst]

I really wanted to love this, but it was seriously lacking as a whole.  It felt like a short that had been poorly stretched out to be a feature film.  The whole movie is less than 90 minutes, including the end credits.  I get that Lucy only has 24 hours to get all her affairs in order before she dies or disappears or whatever, but you can only shut your brain off for so long and handwave so much.  

 

In the end, did she choose to become that black mass of nanites or was that the CPH4 taking over?  She already had control over her metabolism and could basically shapeshift at will.  Why not create a new body?  

 

Not bad, but far from Besson's best work.

[AimingforYoko]

 

I get that Lucy only has 24 hours to get all her affairs in order before she dies or disappears or whatever, but you can only shut your brain off for so long and handwave so much.

See, that was your problem. You don't shut off your brain, you expand your brain. This film can only be appreciated by people using at least 30% of their brain capacity.

I kid, I kid. The science in this was ridiculous of course, but it totally sounds plausible when expounded by Morgan Freeman.

[Bruinsfan]

Well yeah, but then again I wouldn't be noticing any implausibilities in "Hey Diddle Diddle" if Morgan Freeman were the one reading it.

[Constantinople]

Saw this over the weekend.

 

I think Scarlett Johansson was miscast.  She just doesn't, and didn't, radiate any particular intelligence.

[topanga]

 

I think Scarlett Johansson was miscast.  She just doesn't, and didn't, radiate any particular intelligence.

 

The action sequences are very cool and ScarJo is both badass and moving.

I finally saw this on Blu-Ray this weekend. I don't think the character was supposed to be inheriently intelligent. It was the drug that expanded her mental capacity.

 

For me, Scarlett Jo worked as the every woman who was thrust into this horrible situation.

 

 

Yet.

We were left with no resolution/hinted at resolution for the synthetic CPH3! We were not told via card/scroll if the Captain knew who Jang's "cook" was and so helped his fellow law enforcement in Taiwan shut this extremely nasty shit down. Or if anyone other than Jang knew who the chemist/cook was? Was it the slimy, English-accented Suit Dude (in charge of passports and "little slits")? Was it someone else?

There were so many interesting plot lines that were never fully developed, and this indeed was one of them.

[beetnemesis]

I have watched this movie. Excellent movie,it has great special effects and action..plus the story is very imaginative..great ending too!10/10..filenuke has a great link that's very clear.

[Constantinople]

I think Scarlett Johansson was miscast.  She just doesn't, and didn't, radiate any particular intelligence.

 

I finally saw this on Blu-Ray this weekend. I don't think the character was supposed to be inheriently intelligent. It was the drug that expanded her mental capacity.

To expand on my original point, she didn't radiate intelligence before or after taking the drug. She didn't radiate stupid either, she was just sort of there, as she is in pretty much every movie in which I've seen her..

[gaPeach]

I could not get over the size of the "package" they put in her.  And I think she said they put it in her intestines?  No way it was huge so it would have stuck out of her belly big time.

 

Liked it until near then end.  I call fowl on her not killing the asshole that put her in that position to start with.

[beetnemesis]

Excellent movie,it has great special effects and action..plus the story is very imaginative..great ending too!10/10