OTT SF film is also a bloody crime story.

Rating: Null/10 (1 September 2014)

A Universal film. Exciting trailers suggested a film rather like 'Transcendence' from earlier this year starring Johnny Depp, and so it turned out to be. 'Her' (2013), which was screened earlier this year, starred Joaquin Phoenix as a man who fell in love with his computer. That film concentrated on the personal and was rather boring. By contrast, in 'Transcendence', Johnny Depp is plugged into a computer, an event which is exciting and has far-reaching consequences.
In 2011, Bradley Cooper starred in 'Limitless' playing a man who takes a drug which expands his brain-power. 'Lucy' has a similar plot, so it is not an original idea. However it is an exciting film. If however you are interested in this brain-expanding idea, 'Limitless' is the better of the two films. Like in 'Her', 'Limitless' concentrated on the personal, and was rather believable. Writer and director Luc Besson seems to have taken that idea as a starting point, but then via a crime story, has moved into a 'Transcendence' mode of limitless possibilities.
In 1994 Luc Besson astonished audiences with his 'Leon'. Now in 'Lucy' Mr Besson has given us a rather similar bloody and exciting crime story.
'Lucy' opens with some nice graphics to go with the opening titles. However, just like in 'Leon', it is merely the calm before the storm. Some information given out about this film was that the star, Scarlett Johansson, played a character forced to carry drugs, which then got into her system. This seemed an unlikely scenario but Luc Besson makes it a believable situation.
Miss Johansson plays a not too bright party girl in Taiwan who is caught up in the clutches of a gang of violent criminals. Just as 'Leon' opens with a young Natalie Portman scared of falling into the clutches of mad killer Gary Oldman, so in 'Lucy' we have a similar scenario. Miss Johansson stumbles into the clutches of a Mr Jang played by Min-sik Choi. This villainous character makes Mr Oldman look like a pussy-cat. Like Miss Portman before her, Miss Johansson attempts to escape her predicament. However she is unable to. The situation gets worse and worse, the scenes bloodier and bloodier, unremittingly so.
Whilst the early scenes are filmed in Taiwan and are clearly based in Taiwan, the gangsters do not seem to be Triad members. The body-tattooing and Korean language suggest rather that these gangsters are in fact the Japanese Yakuza, who in reality have many ethnic Korean members. Poor little white girl Lucy, unable to speak the language, is terrified by the situation. This is captured well, and we, like Lucy, do not understand the situation. In these scenes Miss Johansson is very emotional and gives a superb performance. As the film develops, so does Lucy, and she becomes more like 'the woman who knows too much', acting accordingly, and again Miss Johansson excels in this character development.
Morgan Freeman and Amr Waked give good support, but this film is all about Scarlett Johansson and Min-sik Choi, who are the chief protagonists, and who dominate the proceedings, in every scene they are in. Two tremendous performances.
This film is part SF, and part crime story. It is very bloody. If you liked 'Leon' (1994), or 'Transcendence' (2014), then you should enjoy this film. Fans of SF and pseudo-science will enjoy this film, but it is not suitable for viewing by scientists.
Bloody, but good. 9/10.