It’s not uncommon to walk into a film screening with a
preconceived notion of whether you will like the movie or not. Sure, this is
kinda against the ethics of the film critic, but I’m willing to bet I wasn’t
the only one to walk into the last Riddick flick with a chip on my shoulder.
That being said, I have to give it up for Luc Besson’s
latest directorial effort, Lucy. Everyone sitting in the audience of my
screening knew it would be dumb, but were hoping for at least a fun dumb.
Besson, who wrote the screenplay as well as directed the film, somehow has
produced a movie that is so stupid that it goes so far outside of his comfort
zone as to become perhaps his finest work to date.
Scarlett Johansson stars as the titular Lucy, a college
student abroad who finds herself caught up in the European drug trade.
Kidnapped, she awakens to find that her stomach has been sliced open in order
to hold a baggie of illegal narcotics, with orders to transport the booty by an
evil drug lord (Oldboy’s Min-Sik Choi). Once the baggie bursts and the contents
begin flowing into her system, the fun begins.
Besson has never had the reputation for bringing smart films
to the screen, so maybe that is why Lucy ends up being so outstanding. Don’t
get me wrong, the whole concept of humans only using 10% of their brain’s
potential is a laughable concept, but Besson pushes through any flawed logic by
sheer willpower. Here we have the extremely poor man’s version of Tree of Life,
with Johansonn traveling through Earth’s history as a silent witness to both its
birth, as well as its death.
Taken as given, Lucy is his greatest cinematic feat to date.
If there is a tragic flaw, it is in the casting of Johansonn. Game as ever, the
actress does her best to inhabit the role, but there is a vibe that this kind
of thing is behind her now. Whereas an unknown actress would blow folks away
with this degree of a performance, here one can’t help but wonder if after
watching her perform for close to two decades onscreen, maybe the college kid
roles can go to someone else now.
