Terrible...though watchable.

Rating: 4/10 (29 July 2014)

I wanted to like this movie...I really did.
I saw the trailer, and even though I knew the "science" behind it was all wrong, I thought it could still be fun.
Well, it was a little fun, sure, but frankly it was a poorly made film with a terrible script and hackneyed ideas.
Have you seen Limitless? They did the same plot better. Have you seen The Avengers? Better use of Scarlett Johansson. Even The Lawnmower Man has the advantage of not being so pretentious over this film.
The script is probably my biggest complaint- nothing is natural. Every line is "on-the-nose," and clearly just there to move the story forward, without giving us any reason to care about the characters or to believe what's happening is real. Who is Lucy? We never really know, she's been instructed to act like a robot the whole movie. There's one scene where she talks about her past, but it's so unnatural and sudden that I couldn't care about it. The supporting characters also have terrible lines...Why are they after Lucy? It doesn't even matter, they're only in the movie to give Lucy and excuse to fight them.
The editing and "symbolism" of the movie is also amateurish. There is no subtlety in this film- everything hits you on top of the head with a lead mallet. For example, the film starts off by juxtaposing images of animals with people...which was a little cheesy but I was willing to forgive it if the film kept up the motif. Nope. Just some random images of animals in the first 10 minutes and then never again. Why even bother? It's like the film is trying to impress some "film school" teacher. Random shots and juxtapositions happen for no other reason than "because it makes the film look smart." It's not, though- it's just obvious and cheesy.
There were also no clever ideas or insights to the human condition here...just clichéd messages about life that you can get from any 9th grade biology book.
OK, so before you say I'm taking it too seriously, and this is just supposed to be a popcorn action flick, I will admit some of the action scenes are awesome. However, they're the same scenes we saw in the trailer, or we've simply seen them done before in other films, but better.
I would not recommend this film, at least not in the theater. Rent it or stream it or whatever, but this isn't a film to pay good money for. There are much better films out there about the same idea.