Only for ridiculous-sci-fi nerds

Rating: 6/10 (6 March 2015)

This is a fantasy-sci-fi concept/action movie. It has a sequence of actions but no plot, and no dramatic tension. The characters are just sketches. The only people who will enjoy it are individuals who enjoy such: those of us who still like to visit the 12-year-old boy inside. My girlfriend sat with me for this DVD but mostly surfed the web.
I went in with very low expectations after reading so many bad reviews, and thanks to that I was surprised to still be entertained. It has enormous flaws to be sure. Some of the acting by, and dialog for, the extras is terrible: I'm pretty sure I could do better as her mother's voice on the phone! The sci-fi is quite preposterous. The cut-scenes of animals felt very old and cliché. The "wise words" coming out of Freeman's mouth are careless insults to your intelligence.
Lucy's character becomes robotic fairly early in the movie. This doesn't make sense (ever notice how humans are actually *more* expressive than the lower animals, not less?), and it is annoying because it makes for a necessarily boring performance by Johansson. And as Lucy acquires new abilities, I felt like asking "Why wouldn't she just...?" increasingly as the movie went on.
So what's to like? Mostly it's just a fun concept to nerd-out on for 90 minutes, complete with lots of effective CGI. And some of the action is fun, though some is not worth noticing.
The real puzzler for me is why Johansson and Freeman would have agreed to take part in this movie, since it did not require much of their acting ability.