Fun, but Fundamentally Flawed

Rating: 6/10 (26 July 2014)

The core premise of "Lucy" is fundamentally flawed. Lucy is inadvertently given a drug which allows her to access more than 10% of her brain, giving her superhuman powers. For the record, it is NOT TRUE that humans only use 10% of their brain. If you replace the phrase "unlocked x% of her brain" with "unlocked x% of superhuman capability" or something like that, it's much more bearable. Further, the movie presents itself as a thinker movie, when in reality it is more of an abstract expressionist movie. It doesn't give you literal or realistic explanations for things (anything, really), instead it gives you flashy visual effects designed to give you the sense of what is really going on (which are, admittedly, really cool and very well done). The acting is solid, though as an actor I'd be thinking "this is bullshit, but I'll say it anyway". Luc Besson's wacky and weird style with a laser focus on small details remains present, but he has done and could do better.