Lucy (2014)

So much for my prediction that I wouldn't watch another action crime flick right away. A friend suggested we see this together. Since it runs only 89 minutes, I figured at least it wouldn't be a great loss.

Lucy (Scarlett Johansson), a college student in Taiwan, puts a little too much trust in a guy she's been seeing for a week (Pilou Asbæk). He pressures her to make a mysterious delivery where he's no longer welcome. This gets her the unwelcome attention of ruthless drug lord Jang (Choi Min-sik), who has her knocked out and surgically implanted with a pouch of a fictitious new synthetic drug to smuggle. When the pouch leaks, she acquires superpowers, escapes, and seeks to collect the drug from other known mules. Not all the effects are good, so she'll have to act fast before her body gives out.

While Lucy's numerous powers are so extreme that she hardly seems to need any help, there are a couple more major good guys. Morgan Freeman gets second billing as a theoretical neurologist who provides a little guidance at her behest. And when Lucy traces the drug to Paris, a police captain (Amr Waked) serves both to supply force where she can't be yet and to remind her of her humanity.

Why does she need that reminder, and why a neurologist? Because the powers ostensibly stem from the enhancement of her brain. Specifically, she's using progressively more of it, in reference to the long-debunked theory that most people use only about 10%. Even putting aside that falsehood, I'm not keen on stories where people break the laws of physics (e.g., with telekinesis) in a way that suggests that we all have the untapped potential to do so. At least Arrival limited it to one power.

Lucy's combination of newfound brilliance, magic, and a terminal condition reminded me of Phenomenon, but I came to think more of Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen. She develops a flat affectation, rarely showing any of her pre-drug fear or awareness of injury. She becomes unimpressed with her own changes and has little patience for others coming to terms with her situation. She claims not to have desires anymore, but that would've left her unmotivated to do much of anything. She's rude, unlawful, and frequently downright uncaring, as when she causes multiple vehicle accidents for random strangers. When called on it, she says that we never really die -- and doesn't elaborate.

This may point to a common complaint about modern cinematic efforts at "strong" female protagonists: They can be unrelatable, unsympathetic, and detrimental to any sense of suspense. As if that weren't enough, their opponents mostly suck. Much as I could appreciate Lucy bringing gangsters to justice for a bit, I liked her better as a victim of circumstance. And her final form is simply unnerving.

My friend has an interest in both good and bad films; Lucy falls somewhere in between. If you're a big fan of Johansson and don't mind her dominating by non-Black Widow means, you may check it out. But it didn't make me any more of a Luc Besson fan.