Lucy (MA)
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman
THEY would have pitched this one as Limitless meets Transcendence.
This week’s “what if” film explores the concept of what would a person become if they could access 100 per cent of their brain, as opposed to the 10 per cent most of us currently use – less, of course, if you’re a journalist or a drummer in a rock band.
Our subject, Lucy, named after the first woman, is played by Scarlett Johansson who brings her curves and her pouty, bee-stung lips… sorry, lost focus for a second there… and her big ‘personality’ to the role.
And very good she is, too, single-handedly carrying a kickarse heroine role, watched by a bemused Morgan Freeman, playing a professor who is not smart enough to comprehend his new subject – but then, to be fair, no-one is.
Lucy inadvertently is the beneficiary of the hot new drug set for the streets and is soon operating at a level beyond the rest of us.
She can effortlessly modify her own cells and body, see and hear things beyond the spectrum of normal humans, and manipulate TV, radio signals and the like.
This evolves into telekinesis and the power to control other people.
The himbos with guns are mere eye-candy in this Scarlett-dominated world. So far, so interesting.
It’s a great ride, but the problem arises when director Luc Besson, having made Lucy her own god, is clearly unable to decide where to take the film’s ending.
Spooked by his own creation, he abruptly calls a halt to proceedings, leaving the audience confused and uncertain as to what he wanted them to think after the preceding rollercoaster ride.
Still well worth the price of admission, with the confused final five minutes not erasing the enjoyment of what came before.
– Jason Beck
