Has the gloss and nice structure, but ultimately lacking in forward motion, sense, and thrills

Rating: Null/10 (27 March 2015)

It is to this film's benefit that it barely touches the 90 minute mark; not only was it this factor that made me watch it in the last 100 minutes of a long-haul flight, but it also means that it has a very short distance to go, and doesn't have to worry too much about not being able to keep up a fast pace all the way. This does cover up for a lot and to a certain point it did make the film work for me by virtue of it moving forward with slickness and material that offers some interest. It also benefits from a nice structure which has a lecture interspersed in the beginning, plus quickly edited clips and images, all of which add pace and variety.
This approach is complimented by a slick presentation, a good sized budget, famous faces in the cast, good locations, and all the trimmings one expects with such films. Unfortunately, these aspects mostly serve to mask some of the inherent problems with it, rather than lift an already strong film to be stronger. The writing is probably the root of most things and in this case it is weak, trying to engage and expand but also trying to service an action thriller – it doesn't really do either well, even though in the broad sweep it is quite daring in where it goes. That said, by failing to really engage the brain, the daring place it ends up, actually comes over as pretty silly and ultimately makes for a weaker ending than it should have been.
The action is a mixed bag since at times it is well executed whereas at others it is lacking in memorable set-pieces and tends towards genre cliché and standards. The slick style does cover this up, but generally the action doesn't thrill as much as it should, and combined with the so-so material, I did find myself just "looking" at the screen, rather than really being into the film. The cast try hard and are part of the slick presentation; Johansson is not really used well, however she does her best in the style, and has some elements of performance about her. Freeman plays himself – and is best when detached from the action, not so much in the second half. Likewise Min-sik Choi is stylistically very much a key part of the film, but at the same time could have benefited from doing that within a better film.
Lucy does fill its time well, and does it with a style and pace that at least will distract, but not much more than that. The action needed to be sharper, the ideas needed to be smarter, and although the destination is a good idea, it is poorly executed and ends up more silly than inspired.