Girl with a gun ... and brains

Rating: 5/10 (28 July 2014)

"Lucy" marks Luc Besson's return as writer and director of a big budget action flick,the first since "The Fifth Element" seventeen years ago. Along for the ride is Scarlett Johansson, who has spent the last few years honing her action chops at Marvel Studios and the prolific Morgan Freeman.
The story revolves around Lucy(Johansson), no last name given, who is duped by a shady boyfriend to deliver a briefcase to a Taiwanese gangster named Mr. Jang(Min-Sik Choi). The contents of said case holds a new designer drug that Mr. Jang wishes to distribute throughout Europe using "volunteers", Lucy being one of them, as mules by surgically implanting bags of the stuff in their intestines. Lucy's bag ruptures inside her and the drug circulates through her body with unexpected results; she has the ability to access more of her brain than any human has ever before.
What follows is a high octane pursuit of the remaining bags of drugs. Lucy wants them for herself, Mr. Jang would, of course, like his merchandise back. As her brain power increases, we are updated periodically with screen shots informing us of the current percentage of her brain being used. Unfortunately this is where the movie loses it's focus. It becomes a mix of questionable science and gunfights with an ending that is "The Lawnmower Man" meets "Transcendence".
You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned Mr. Freeman yet. His talents, I'm afraid, are wasted here. As Professor Norman, he serves only to inform the audience of the "science" involved.
In the end, I feel this would have been a better movie if they stuck to Lucy simply enacting some revenge on the drug lord who enslaved her. Using, of course, her ever increasing intelligence and a Glock 42. Johansson proves she can handle the action scenes and carry a big budget film. I am already looking forward to her own Black Widow movie.