When Lucy met Lucy

Rating: 7/10 (13 October 2015)

There isn't a dull moment in "Lucy". It starts fast and finishes faster. Just as well really because it doesn't allow too much time to question the plot, let alone the science behind it all.
The premise of the story is that after Scarlet Johansson's character, Lucy, receives a massive dose of the drug CPH4 into her system, her mind begins to expand until she eventually uses 100% of her brain, virtually giving her superpowers.
The scene I love most is when she nears her full potential and meets her namesake, Lucy, our early human ancestor whose evolving brain capacity was apparently part of the inspiration behind Luc Bresson writing the story.
The science of the whole thing is explained by Professor Samuel Norman played by Morgan Freeman – he makes it all sound so believable. One of the cleverest things in the film is the way the history of the human brain and the big concepts about mind expansion are put across with the use of offbeat film clips and old newsreels.
Much of the film's appeal is down to Scarlet Johansson. She plays the part in a low-key way, despite the fireworks all around her, but whatever it is that she projects she owns the screen.
"Lucy" has been compared to a lot of films including "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "The Matrix"; most comparisons are with modern day sci-fi epics with great special effects. Oddly however, as I watched the end of the film where Lucy reaches the ultimate state and becomes at one with the Universe, "I am everywhere", I was reminded of the finale of an old, classic B/W sci-fi film, "The Incredible Shrinking Man", where the hero shrinks to the point where he realises that the infinite and the infinitesimal meet and become one within the vastness of the universe.
Although I'm not so sure one even needs to use 10% of one's brain to watch "Lucy" I'm not overly critical of a movie that is so entertaining, puts across fascinating ideas so well, and has two charismatic stars going full tilt.