Spoiler Warning:
Lucy, the 2014 film starring actress
Scarlet Johansson, is a blight on the face of the science fiction film genre.
Therefore, the following is a rage fueled film analysis. Plot details and other
information will be given away during the course of this written review. If you
feel I’m being too tough on this movie, or if you have your own opinions about
a film so offensively awful, please start your own blog. (Smiley face,
exclamation point.)
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| Lucy (2014) |
Lucy, is like a very bad drug, we
should teach our children to avoid this movie, and they should just say, “NO,”
when offered a screening of the film. However I won’t waste my time wondering
who’s to blame for such an atrocious cinematic outing, because it’s really
quite clear. Collectively, it’s the people behind the scenes on this production
who deserve a very precise and point making, slap to the face. The people who
believed that this film idea had something to say, that sloppily wrote any cool
sequence into a 120 page screenplay, and gave everything a weak plot line to
string it all together. Then there’s the studio, who allowed creation of this,
thing, (for lack of a better word) through proper funding, and human resources.
Plainly speaking, Lucy should not
have been made! At the very least, they should have sat on the idea before
going on to make the film. These ideas presented could have used some
refinement, or an overhaul. Some scenes feel out of place, and the actors
involved appear to be working for a paycheck, just a paycheck. Any shred of any
interesting idea, metaphor, or message, are completely lost under the
distracting emotionless acting, and absurd sequences within the film. It also
fails at being a film that should have created a female hero for both men and
women to get behind.
The film itself, took no longer than
four minutes, four measly minutes to lose me completely! Here’s three major
points that will illustrate why.
Strike one, a thoughtless opening
monologue by Scarlet herself. Perhaps I shouldn’t call it a monologue, because
the opening dialogue lasts all of one sentence and acts as though it’s a hook
into the film. It isn’t. In this moment the film asks us, “Life was given to us
a billion years ago... What have we done with it?” It’s not a Professor Xavier,
speech on mutation/evolution, it’s not a War of the Worlds style warning of
what forces may be out there, gunning for humanity, no. This should however, be
something that makes the audience think and wonder about what may lay ahead in
the film. It’s supposed to start the film off with a bang when the director
opts for opening dialogue, this does not do that what so ever.
Strike two, the movie throws the
character of Lucy at the audience as though we’re already supposed to know her.
Granted, Scarlet Jo gives the character a personality, allowing us to make our
own assumptions about who she is and where she comes from. However, this
personality does nothing because the character was never given a proper setup
before being taken out of her normal life, assuming she has one, to begin the
film’s adventure. Deduct points for Ms. Johansen acting like a dumb-blonde for
100% of the time she’s not a super genius. Scarlet playing a dumb-blonde plays
into strike three, but for the moment, allow me to break down how this section
of the opening scene plays out.
-It’s the early afternoon, Lucy and
some guy she met at a party are standing outside of a hotel. Attention is
brought to a briefcase and its contents, something shady is going on while the
two argue about whether or not Lucy takes the case inside said hotel. And then
suddenly.
Strike three, Lucy has her wrist
handcuffed to the handle of the case right at the 4 minute, 50 second mark. It
is here I felt the film waving bye, bye, to me as I completely left the
universe this movie tries to set up. Does this character have no common sense?
I’m not going to go down the list of things wrong in this scenario because I
don’t want to set the record for longest internet blog by a film critic. So
here’s the ultra-super-mega-condensed version of what happens for the rest of the
film. Anyone looking to avoid further spoilers should avoid the section in Italics.
There’s a drug in the case, four
packages of it. Lucy has one package surgically inserted in her body, against
her will and for smuggling purposes. She gets beaten half to death, after
denying an Asian man sex, allowing the package in her system to break,
releasing the drug. She becomes super smart. She escapes her captors. Morgan
Freeman gives a speech to college kids, (those lucky, lucky youngsters) Lucy
finds out what the drug is, and she can sense she’s going to die soon. She
discovers Morgan Freeman’s character, and goes on a search to meet him in
person. Skipping ahead, once she meets him the films ultimate metaphor is
delivered to the audience, “Nothing matters, and time governs all.”
And finally, through the magic of “No
One Cares,” Lucy takes one fully loaded sequence to learn, 1) she can travel
through time and space. 2) She can become a computer. 3) She can escape death
by manipulating her last moment of life to become omnipresent. 4) She can leave
all she has learned throughout the course of the film on a flash drive for
Morgan Freeman. And she does!
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| Species (1995 |
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| Limitless (2011) |
For a movie that is sold as a
fictional venture that explores what happens when a human being unlocks the
full capacity of their mind, Lucy is very dumb, because it’s extremely
illogical. If I were to compare it to anything, in an attempt to be optimistic,
Lucy is very much like the film, Species. It’s about a rapidly evolving female
lead character, who wants nothing more than to accomplish a grand goal. There
is hope though dear reader, because there is a much better film out there that
fictionally explores what happens when a human being unlocks the full potential
of their cranial capacity, it’s called Limitless.
The fact of the matter is,
shockingly life was given to these filmmakers, and what have they done with it?
They suckered Scarlet Johansson and Morgan Freeman into making Lucy.
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