Could have been a fun ride, was a down slide.

Rating: 5/10 (21 August 2014)

The film starts as a really good dark action comedy with even some witty dialog, and ends about as painfully as my tortured pun above. At half an hour into the movie, everybody's brains get blown away including those of the writers and the director. (In defense of the writers, the movie actually has a philosophically relevant message.) I don't care that the main plot is a scientific fallacy. I consume other fantasy stuff with joy. My problem is with the incessant and badly executed attempts to root that fantasy in actual science and make it philosophically relevant. Yes, X-Men sports "scientists" too, but the role of science is usually played down or someone in a funny colored jumpsuit hops in. The makers of "Lucy" wrote a professor into the bit, who gets a lot of screen time teaching much too obvious falsehoods in an University class room, deliver the one relevant philosophical line in the flick, and then comment in awe on Lucy's (completely illogical) developments, all the time giving off quasi-scientific babble. And to add harm to insult, they chose Morgan Freeman for the role, to add even more credibility, at least seriously harming that actor's in the process. *** Some small Spoilering ahead*** As already hinted on, I could not get high enough on sugar and popcorn to suspend disbelief enough in the face of so much cringe-worthy pseudo science babble, illogical hero power development, plot holes and really shakily held up tension. The guy with the gun at the end, after all that she had done, after all that she had done 5 minutes after _starting_ to transform, is kind of stupid.
It could all have been a fun ride, Morgan Freeman as a tongue in cheek professor, and a pretty super-heroine slowly going god-mode, all mixed with a philosophical layer and a message that is actually unique and relevant. It was all in there, but drowned in bad execution. It was somewhat painful, but I don't regret watching it.