Stumbles on old clichés and artsy tropes

Rating: Null/10 (29 September 2014)

I don't really mind clichés, if they're done well, or if the film maker tries something new with them. But could we please let this ridiculous 10 percent thing go already? It's simply not true, and it hasn't been believed to be true for decades now. We humans use most of our brains for simple everyday functions. Perhaps only 30-40 percent at a time, but it's still significantly more than the alleged 10 percent.
But, it's a single trope in a movie. A central one, certainly, but if the rest of the film was better, I wouldn't really mind all that much. But unfortunately it's not. The story itself is not a bad one. Luc Besson has managed to create this sweeping storyline about the birth of divinity within an ordinary woman - a theme I've often encountered in anime, in fact. Scarlett Johansson's Lucy has to deal with the evermounting loss of humanity as she becomes more than any human has ever been. Yet most of her actions are altruistic in nature, which I find refreshing.
The biggest problem this movie has is that it doesn't go full throttle with its scope. There are certain artsy elements and imagery to its delivery that try, but that's only window dressing. The theme of transcendence doesn't open up to as, we don't learn anything about it. The most we get is that Lucy can think faster, and thus type faster on a computer and spout of scientific theory to university professors. The bare bones of an idea are there, but the meat is lacking.
Plus the villains are superficial and unnecessary beyond their role in setting the film in motion, yet they're constantly brought back in to create action scenes. And the mood suffers accordingly.
Lucy has a lot of good elements in it, from Johansson's performance, to special effects, to rather excellent cinematography to the aforementioned action scenes, which feel unnecessary, but are pretty to look at. It's only the mix of them that feels wrong, and thus brings the film down. Lucy is worth checking out if you're into science fiction or Scarlett Johansson. The rest of you should move on.