a bold sci-fi thriller that depicts the origin of life

Rating: 8/10 (22 August 2014)

You could say it starts off as a bit of a joke. Or just a really bad version of a 007 wanna-be- bad ass replica. Even Johannson's acting starts off as a bit of a joke; literally, she seems to be laughing more than crying herself through the first ten minutes of the film. However, Lucy transcends with every passing minute – as if the quality of the film and it's acting were corresponding to the percentage of brain capacity that the protagonist female- gone-super-human android is using. It is one of those films, whose idea clearly surpasses cinematographic capabilities - time, space, gravity, and the origin of cells that build life and our reality - it is one of those films, that you watch skeptically, but are patient and open to giving it a chance. You watch, learn and enjoy, but after that start are all the while still deciding whether this is total guff, whether you have been ripped off at the theater counter, and served quantum-physics starters-pack drivel with some Scarlett glitter on top to cover it up? About midway through, I decided to give it a chance. A real chance. A chance at blowing me away and taking my mind to places unexplored, allowing my brain synapses to dance and go wild, tying together all my theories about life with what I was learning whilst fixing my eyes upon the screen. It worked. The key is, to see film as art. To take what you can get from it. Not to criticize (and believe me there was a lot of moaning and dis-missing going on in the seats around me) but to make the most of it. Yes you CAN. Once this happens (and there have been a lot of films where it just doesn't happen) you are free to go and experience that wonderful world of time, intelligence and purpose of life that is Lucy. Maybe I am an optimist who was fed cyborg-bull crap and went off on it – maybe I fell in love with the idea of being- and playing Scarlett's part, but in any case, I am glad to have seen this film, as it let me exit that cinema with sharpened senses and let me glide into the night feeling alive, thirsting for knowledge, finding life intelligent and beautiful. Each step was beautiful.