Throwaway sci-fi fun

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2015)

It's to know how to start this review. Lucy is filled with almost every sci-fi cliché under the sun and borrows so many aspects from dozens of other movies (including ones Johansson herself is in) that if you take it too seriously it'll be completely lost on you to the point of being terrible. It is derivative, vacuous, and slightly shallow.
But, and you'll have seen from my score, it is far from a bad movie.
Lucy sees Johansson's protagonist of the title caught up in a drug deal gone bad. Through no fault of her own she ends up ingesting the drug and finds her mind and body fundamentally altering and seemingly evolving to a higher plane.
Already I can see people screaming 'Limitless', 'X men', and even '2001 Space Odyssey'. They're not completely wrong - this movie borrows so many aspects from these and more that it basically is a compilation of every sci-fi movie you've ever seen.
But that said, while it tries to take ITSELF seriously with pretentious twaddle about evolution and psychology, it is delivered stylishly enough to be entertaining.
Besson's direction is also good - there are plenty of stylish set-pieces and another of his notable works, Fifth Element, is here in spirit too. The guy does know how to produce a slick movie.
The problem is the content, and the way it's delivered. The first half of the movie sees 'correlation' cut offs between what's happening to Lucy and Morgan Freeman's Dr Norman giving lectures to a crowd of academics which 'just so happen' to be explaining the nature of evolution and the primitive stage of human psychology. It's all very interesting but the idea all this is happening to her while he's delivering his very convenient sermons really pushes the envelope. Naturally she finds him and seeks his help 'because he's the only one who can help her'.
Another notable flaw is the 'bad guy' is literally there for the sake of being a bad guy. He doesn't exude any fear, menace, or indeed interest, and seems wholly contrived for the sake of there being a nemesis.
But, while Besson probably did intend this to be taken more seriously than it ends up being, it nevertheless entertains thanks to quick pace, an intriguing premise, and good cinematography. The visual effects are especially decent.
However I have no idea why he thought it a good idea to stick Scarlett in a ridiculously sexy dress for two-thirds of the movie - don't get me wrong, I'm as hot-blooded as any other man and don't object to it, but it was unnecessary, distracting, and it served no purpose beyond eye candy. It certainly wasn't practical for the character's situation.
Ultimately it was a fun, silly, well-executed if flawed movie which had designs grander than it was actually able to deliver.