Pretty satisfying Cross Genre Piece

Rating: 6/10 (25 August 2014)

Lucy is a sci-fi thriller, with pace, excitement and thrills. Director Luc Besson has a track record with action (Nikkita, District 13) and his touch here is sure, and assured. The ingredients are transparent. A strong Chinese section will play well to the fast emerging Far East market, with English subtitles, which will reverse in home markets. The denouement in Paris reflects the Canal + funding and Bessons' nationality, the French Cop even gets to kiss the girl! And the Englishman is the fey baddie, a wonderfully reptilian cameo by Julian Rhind Tutt.
Besson does not allow himself to be too tied down by the requirements of genre. The opening scene is pure gritty action thriller as the eponymous Lucy finds herself helpless in a drug –trafficking plot, this then morphs into a superhero sequence as she ingests her packages. Thereafter there is a parallel sequence featuring the gravel voiced tones of Morgan Freeman, playing a cutting edge scientist and driving the sci-fi element with a surfeit of scientific psycho-babble, and all comes together for a cartoon style climax of increasing improbability.
Scarlett Johansen, as Lucy, carries the part, short dresses and Loubouttin heels, with some style. Sassy, tough, vulnerable and determined she proves that female leads can command a film, an opportunity which is denied far too many actresses. Her nemesis, Mr Jang, played by Min Sik Choi has no such personality breadth, and is a convincing inscrutable, cruel killer.
This is not a story that bears close examination, but it rattles along at some speed, works, and entertains. The car chase in Paris is convincing, but the shoot outs are stylised, losing some of the power that the opening scene offers. The idea of a drug which enhances human potential was explored quite recently in Limitless, Lucy trumps it for verve and brio. Purists of any of the aforementioned genres will carp, but the end package is pretty satisfying.