Lucy Review

So, this is a strange one for me to review. Just getting it out of the way, let me just start by saying that I personally did not enjoy this movie as much as I wanted to. And yet, after taking the time to break down the movie to its core elements after thinking about it, I actually found it challenging to find a lot of glaring issues worth bringing up initially. Just going down the list: the overall storytelling is fine for what it is, the visual FX work is decent enough to get by, and the performances aren't necessarily terrible by any means. So, what exactly is wrong with 2014's new science-fiction action flick, Lucy? Thinking about it now, I've come to realization that it really comes down to the visual direction that takes up the majority of the movie and how mentally exhausting the overall experience was.

To use an analogy, if someone were to constantly feed you candy (no matter how deliciously sweet it is) for an entire day, it wouldn't take too long until your body grew sick of it resulting in a pretty nasty stomach reaction. In its own unique way, this is essentially what this movie did to me once it finally ended and the credits started to roll. The artistic approach given to Lucy can perhaps be described as a frequent display of quick cutting visual representations of depicted higher and evolved intelligence resulting in a temporally stupefying and mind numbing viewing experience. Going along this trippy ride of scientific imagery comes our protagonist who the audience has to anchor themselves to for any emotional content or forward feeling narrative. Here we have Scarlett Johansson entering into the fray who does a decent enough job playing off the typical action femme fatal role. However, the actress is never given too much to do to really flex her acting chops throughout which to me felt like a complete waste of talent.

For the most part, many of the characters just come across as being present in the moment primarily to help fill up space. There's no real sense of development or substantial dimension given to anyone surrounding Lucy herself making this quite the forgettable ensemble. Jumping ahead a bit, let's talk about the ending scene which was very anticlimactic in addition to the pacing leading up to that point feeling like the editor stepped in and played the movie in fast forward while randomly skipping over scenes. It's a very disjointed presentation, and though it can be argued that this sense of structuring is intentional as an artistic means to connect to the character's evolving mind, it problematically sacrifices the viewer's experience as a result. 

When it comes down to it, Lucy is both completely ridiculous and outrageously entertaining. Only, this description isn't exactly stated in the sense that one might enjoy. It's an assortment of gradually sickening eye candy that desperately rushes to its closing credits leaving behind any semblance of potential from its talented cast and concepts in the wind. I'd highly recommend skipping this one as there are far better movies out there that tackles a similar idea of "ordinary guy ends up being imbued with an insane amount of power". If you're just itching to see Scarlett Johansson in a unique new science-fiction related role, I'd recommend checking out Jonathan Glazer's brilliantly unnerving Under The Skin. Though I state that with a warning label if slower and more meticulously paced films aren't your style. 

Rating: 5/10