Lucy (2014) ☆ ☆ 1/2

French filmmaker Luc Besson is audacious.  Sometimes that means really good, as in 1994’s Leon: The Professional, which introduced young Natalie Portman to the world. Sometimes it means really, really bad, as in 1997’s The Fifth Element, which is crazy, puerile and overproduced.  With Lucy, Besson’s audacity is mostly harnessed, sharply focused and quite spectacular.

A young woman, Lucy (Scarlett Johansson), is kidnapped, operated upon, and forced to travel as a drug mule by a Taiwanese gangster.  But the drugs placed inside her leak into her bloodstream, greatly expanding her ability to use her brain capacity, and she uses her newfound abilities to exact revenge upon her tormentors.  As her brain becomes evermore efficient Lucy is able to do things never before done, and to become something rather more than human.

As science-fiction, Besson’s premise is gobbledygook, but it is fascinating to consider. The movie visualizes how Lucy can actually see and manipulate time and matter in remarkable ways, providing a glimpse into the universe of “might be.”  Johansson is terrific as Lucy, going from terrified party girl to unemotional avenging angel, while always considering the consequences of what she can do.

Besson’s movie makes one wrong turn, in my view, when Lucy doesn’t kill the drug lord, allowing him to follow her and initiate a massacre later.  The story spends too much time in revenge mode as seen from the gangsters’ perspective.  There’s even a shot of Parisian police running into a building while the gangsters prepare to attack from across the street in plain view.  Why wouldn’t the police confront them outside?

That bothered me, but I think more viewers will probably find fault with the last act, in which Lucy evolves into something else entirely — shades of Ken Russell’s Altered States territory.  It isn’t always successful, but there is more originality, energy, possibility and style in this movie than in a dozen traditional Hollywood movies. Eventually Lucy bites off more than it can chew, but it’s one heck of an interesting meal.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  6 August 2014.

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