Lucy

If nine out of ten times in an action movie we had a female protagonist, we would be lucky.  As it stands right now, one could probably count all of the main stream actioners with female leads in the past five years on one hand.  It is just not something that studios do, because perhaps it is something that the general audiences do not get behind as easily.  Exceptions are there, as Salt starring Angelina Jolie was able to make $36 million its opening weekend.  Compare that to the numbers that heroes of old (such as Schwarzenegger and Stallone) are able to pull in, and it looks like there could be a case to be made for the ladies.

Myself, I like it.  I enjoy my heroes to be of all kinds of personalities and backgrounds, each different in their own unique way but with a singular ability to grow to meet the challenge.  Two of my favourite protagonists have been females in Sarah Conner and Ellen Ripley, who are both distinct but manage to prove adaptable and strong.  To me, they are iconic.

Writer and Director Luc Besson is the man who gave us The Professional, which is as personal and caring as you can get in a movie with explosions and crazy Gary Oldmens.  Besson works to create Lucy as an atypical action film about a woman (coincidentally enough named Lucy) who, through very unfortunate circumstances, begins having more and more of her brain’s capacity functioning.  The normal human brain, we are told, uses only 10% of its capacity, and Morgan Freeman plays a professor who claims wonderful, god like powers await as more of the brain is unlocked.  We may consider him to be the audience’s wikipedia in this film.

Lucy is kicked off by an emotionally intense scene where Scarlett Johansson’s character (she who is Lucy) is unintentionally absorbed into the realm of high level narcotics dealing and is in fear for her life.  As enrapturing as this sequence was, it was numbed by Besson’s insertion of stock footage to symbolize the mood of the situation in relation to evolution.  Does that sound a little bit weird?  It fit from a logical standpoint, but served as a distraction that kept derailing the frantic and emotional scene that was unravelling.  It also became an undertone of spastic nature that would continue throughout the entire film.

The character of Lucy was an interesting one.  She was a typical party girl who was studying abroad before ingesting some drugs that opened her mind, but not in a psychedelic 60s way.  Once she begins utilizing her brain, she is able to kick ass, which is good.  However, she also turns into a murderer which begins to start a disconnect between her and the audience.  On top of that, her character begins losing the element of human emotions, which is an interesting development for the protagonist to undertake, but also highlights the disconnect.  There is a very good reason why in The Terminator movies the cyborg is not the main character, and that is because the movie goers need a surrogate in the film to connect to emotionally.  They need some sort of investment in the lead to care for the outcome, and that disappears further and further into the void as the story progresses.

Lucy essentially becomes omnipotent and omnipresent because of the evolution of her brain, which pushes the limits of suspension of disbelief.  Superman, as powerful as he is, has his kryptonite to prove as a foil.  Lucy had nothing to get in her way, which brought all action sequences to the point of function over purpose.  By the time the end is reached, I had no idea why there was a gun fight even happening if all she had to do was use her mind to disable the weapons.  None of it really mattered… she could do anything she wanted in her emotionless way.

I could not say that I was bored during the film, just that I lost care for everything that was taking place and had no lingering energy for investment by the rolling out of the finale.  I was treated to some disastrous special effects in two instances.  One where men floated in the air by the powers of a 1990s blue screen technology, and another where I got to see a dinosaur that reminded me of the computer animated ones I saw on the History Channel years ago as I skimmed through the channels in search of something to keep my mind occupied.

Rating - 2 out of 4 stars