Pseudoscience has never been so much fun!

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2015)

Let me start out this review by saying that I freaking love The Fifth Element and The Professional. Luc Besson was killing it in the 90's, and while he may have lost some steam in the 21st century I still couldn't help but get excited over his newest explosive action exploit, Lucy. Scarlett Johansson stars as the titular character, a girl who inadvertently gets mixed up in a drug smuggling ring that isn't smuggling any old drugs. She is forced to smuggle a new drug that heightens a person's "cerebral capacity" and when she is exposed to the drug she starts gaining all sorts of crazy abilities that she rightfully uses to kick ass and take names. Honestly I don't really know what her actual goal was, but plenty of people get to die in cool fashions along the way, and that makes for an action packed 90 minutes of super powered ScarJo, so how can I complain?
Now, this movie centers around the idea that humans only use about 10% of their brain and it speculates what a person would be capable of if they could unlock all 100%. There had always been controversy over this theory and shortly after the movie came out, hell it might have even been before its release, this whole theory was disproved and smashed into fictional conjecture oblivion. Thus, it's really hard, nigh impossible, to take Lucy seriously. It takes a lot of scientific liberties and its attempts to explain things for the sake of the plot are mostly laughable. There is some seriously nutty pseudoscience being bounced around here, and at times it seems like they're making it up as they go along. But once you separate yourself from the silliness of the plot and just accept the absurd foundation on which this film is built, you'll start to have a lot more fun.
It only takes Lucy about seven minutes to kick off the action so if you like explosions, gunfire, or martial arts then Lucy will have your attention pretty quickly. Besson might be a bit older and a bit less on point, but I can't deny the sonofabitch still knows how to put together a badass action sequence. Lucy gives us the smart, tension filled action set-pieces reminiscent of The Professional. It reminds us that we go to the movies to enjoy ourselves and not everything has to be so serious all the time. And for that I have the utmost respect for Lucy.
A film based around such flimsy science is bound to have a swathe of issues, and Lucy is no exception. But the issues here you can really just chalk up to the conceit of movies. Sure, the dialogue is cheesy, transparent, and comically expository at times. The performances are good, but you have to take them with a block of cheese. Johansson is fun as the super powered ass kicking femme fatale, and Morgan Freeman is pretty entertaining too, even if his character's only purpose in the film is to explain the plot and give us back story. But these issues are passable things that don't stop Lucy from being a riotously good time, and it's wacky story actually plays out in a really satisfying way. I was prepared for a really stupid ending, but what I got was actually pretty awesome and something connections that I didn't see coming were drawn out by the end.
As far as action movies go Lucy is great. Its loaded with ass kicking and jam packed with wicked special effects. The film is a nonstop roller coaster and the ending certainly goes off the rails, but in an age where action movies draw out for far too long, what with our superhero and fighting robot movies clocking in at almost three hours half the time, Lucy with it's cool 90 minute run time is short sweet and to the point. It doesn't dwell and it doesn't over complicate things. If this movie's one goal is to entertain while not taking up too much of your time or too much of your cerebral capacity (hehe) then I would say it's a huge success.