Lucy (2014)

"The average person uses 10% of their brain capacity. Imagine what she could do with 100%."

Directed by Luc Besson
Produced by Virginie Silla
Written by Luc Besson
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Amr Waked, Choi Min-sik
Music by Éric Serra
Cinematography: Thierry Arbogast
Edited by Julien Rey
Production company: EuropaCorp, TF1 Films Production, Canal+, Ciné+
Distributed by EuropaCorp. Distribution, Universal Pictures
Release date: 25 July 2014 (Canada)
Running time: 89 minutes
Country: France, Taiwan, Germany
Budget: $40.000.000
Box office: $415.000.000

"Lucy" is a sci-fi action thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson. The story is about Lucy, a 25-year-old American woman living and studying in Taipei, Taiwan. She is tricked into working as a drug mule by her new boyfriend, whose employer, Mr. Jang, is a Korean mob boss and drug lord. Lucy delivers a briefcase to Mr. Jang containing a highly valuable synthetic drug called CPH4. After seeing her boyfriend shot and killed, she is captured and a bag of the drug is forcibly sewn into her abdomen and that of three other drug mules who will also transport the drug for sales in Europe. While Lucy is in captivity, one of her captors kicks her in the abdomen, breaking the bag, releasing a large quantity of the drug into her system. As a result, she begins acquiring increasingly enhanced physical and mental capabilities, such as telepathy, telekinesis, mental time travel, and can choose not to feel pain or other discomforts, in addition to other abilities. What are she going to do with it?

Cast

• Scarlett Johansson as Lucy
• Morgan Freeman as Professor Norman
• Choi Min-sik as Mr. Jang
• Amr Waked as Pierre Del Rio
• Julian Rhind-Tutt as the polite English 'baddie'
• Pilou Asbæk as Richard
• Analeigh Tipton as Caroline
• Nicolas Phongpheth as Jii

Luc Besson needs no introduction. His pictures like "Léon: The Professional", "The Fifth Element", "Taxi", "The Transporter", "The Family" are well-known. Moreover Luc Besson is one of my favourite directors, so I've been looking for his new work. His "Lucy" was generally categorised as entertaining and silly, but also polarising, by critics. Early reviews for the film were described as positive and mixed, and later as positive abroad. In my opinion, it's a little similar to "Transcendence" which I also liked. The idea of great intelligence, an absolute and perfect one. But if the main theme of "Transcendence" is artificial intelligence, in "Lucy" we can see possible abilities of the usage of 100% of brain capacity.

There are only two things that I didn't like in "Lucy": lack of background and too little running time for disclosure of the plot. This way the story has turned out somewhat incompletely.

Lucy performed by Scarlett Johansson seems like a usual woman with fears. I mean like an ordinary person. But after the accident Lucy becomes a perfect soldier. A strong and immensely clever woman. Scarlett coped with her role really well. I believe her Lucy since the first shot up to the last one. Morgan Freeman played part as successfully as always. I don't think that it's necessary to mention how talented he is.

Advantages

• Scarlett Johansson as Lucy
• Morgan Freeman as Professor Norman

Disadvantages

• Not very believable sci-fi - strangely enough

"Strangenesses"

• Is time intelligence?

Clue Moments

• The drug
• Time

Highly developed intellect. Who would be  against to own it? Nobody, I suppose. It will give infinite facilities, break down any barriers and handle any problems. It sounds like an utopia and yes, it does.  As has been said on this film mankind isn't ready for such profound changes. History teaches us that everything must be modified gradually or it will set mischiefs abroad. This way if we want have something great we need to develop ourselves, assay the impossible. The present creates the future.

"Time is the only true unit of measure, it gives proof to the existence of matter, without time, we don’t exist". In fact it's true. Almost everything in this world can be returned but not time. Every minute, every second, every moment are unique, they will never come back. So maybe it's the reason to live right now?

Soundtracks

1. Eric Serra - All We Have Done With It
2. Eric Serra - Blue Injection
3. Eric Serra - Choose to Reproduce
4. Eric Serra - Crossing the Goon Sea
5. Eric Serra - Disintegration
6. Eric Serra - First Cells
7. Eric Serra - Flicking Through Time
8. Eric Serra - Goons and Guards
9. Eric Serra - Gps Control
10. Eric Serra - Green Beams
11. Eric Serra - I Am Everywhere
12. Eric Serra - I Feel Everything
13. Eric Serra - Inner Fireworks
14. Eric Serra - Lucy and Lucy
15. Eric Serra - Lucy and the Sniffer Dog
16. Eric Serra - Lucy Is Going out, Pt. 1
17. Eric Serra - Lucy Is Going out, Pt. 2
18. Eric Serra - Melt into Matter
19. Eric Serra - Moonbirth
20. Eric Serra - Mr. Wang's Bloody Suite, Pt. 1-4
21. Eric Serra - Mr. Wang's Bloody Suite, Pt. 5-7
22. Eric Serra - Origin of the World
23. Eric Serra - Pleasant Drive in Paris
24. Eric Serra - Sixty Percent Mess
25. Eric Serra - Taipei Airport
26. Eric Serra - Thank You for Sharing
27. Eric Serra - Time Is Unity
28. Eric Serra - Tingjhou Hospital
29. Eric Serra - Where Is Lucy?

Quotations

* * *

Lucy: Ignorance brings chaos, not knowledge.

* * *

Pierre Del Rio: I'd rather be late than dead.

Lucy: We never really die.

* * *

Lucy: Life was given to us a billion years ago. What have we done with it?

* * *

Lucy: We've codified our existence to bring it down to human size, to make it comprehensible, we've created a scale so we can forget its unfathomable scale.

* * *

Lucy: I AM EVERYWHERE

* * *

Professor Norman: One neuron, you’re alive. Two neurons you’re moving. And with movement, interesting things begin to happen.

* * *

Lucy: Time is the only true unit of measure, it gives proof to the existence of matter, without time, we don’t exist.

* * *

Lucy: I feel everything. Space, the air, the vibrations, the people, I can feel the gravity, I can feel the rotation of the Earth, the heat leaving my body, the blood in my veins. I can feel my brain. The deepest parts of my memory.

* * *

Professor Norman: The dolphin did not invent the sonar, it developed it, naturally. And this is the crucial part of our philosophical reflection we have today: can we therefore conclude that humans are more concerned with “having” than “being”?

* * *

Lucy: I can start to control other peoples bodies. Also I can control magnetic and electric waves, and — not all of them, just the most basic — television, telephone, radio. … I don’t feel pain, fear, desire. It’s like all things that make us human are fading away. It’s like the less human I feel, all this knowledge about everything, quantum physics, applied mathematics, the infinite capacity of the cell’s nucleus, they’re all exploding inside my brain. All this knowledge. I don’t know what to do with it.

* * *

Professor Norman: If its habitat is not sufficiently favourable, or nurturing, the cell will choose immortality, in other words, self-sufficiency and self management. On the other hand, if the habitat is favourable, they will choose to reproduce — that way, when they die, they hand essential information and knowledge to the next cell, which hands it down to the next cell, and so on. Thus knowledge and learning are handed down, through time.

* * *

Lucy: Learning’s always a painful process. Like when you’re little and your bones are growing and you ache all over. Do you believe I can remember the sound of my own bones growing? Like this grinding under the skin. Everything’s different now. Like sounds are music that I can understand, like fluids. It’s funny, I used to be so concerned with who I was and what I wanted to be, and now that I have access to the furthest reaches of my brain, I see things clearly and realise that what makes us “us” — it’s primitive. They’re all obstacles. Does that make any sense? Like this pain you’re experiencing. It’s blocking you from understanding. All you know now is pain. That’s all you know, pain.

* * *

Professor Norman: For the moment it’s just hypothesis, I confess. But if you think about it, its troubling to realise that the Greeks, the Egyptians and the Indians had notion of cells centuries before the invention of the microscope. And what to say about Darwin whom everyone took for a fool when he put forth his theory of evolution. Its up to us to push the rules and laws, and go from evolution, to revolution.

* * *

Professor Norman: But now we are entering the realms of science-fiction, and we don’t know any more than the dog who watches the moon.

Student: Excuse me, sir.

Professor Norman: Yes?

Student: But what would happen, if for some reason we ignore, somebody unlocked 100% of the cerebral capacity?

Professor Norman: One hundred percent?

Student: Yes.

Professor Norman: I have no idea. 

* * *

Surgeon: Pregnant women manufacture CPH4 in their sixth week of pregnancy — in tiny quantities. For a baby, it packs the power of an atomic bomb. It’s what gives the fetus the necessary energy to form all the bones in its body. I’d heard they were trying to make a synthetic version of it — didn’t realise they’d succeeded. If it really is CPH4, in this quantity, I’m amazed you’re still alive.

Lucy: Not for long.

* * *

Professor Norman: All this knowledge, Lucy — I’m not even sure that mankind is ready for it. We’re so driven by power and profit. Given man’s nature, it might bring us only instability and chaos.

Lucy: Ignorance brings chaos, not knowledge. I’ll build a computer and download my knowledge in it. I’ll find a way for you to have access to it.

Professor Norman: Yeah… I just hope… we will be worthy of your sacrifice.

* * *
You may see the trailer here.

Plot: 6/10

Entertainment: 6/10

Acting: 6/10

Originality: 7/10

Music and Sound: 7/10

6/10