Review of Lucy (2014) by Tyler R — 23 May 2015

This is no exaggeration when I say that the last thirty minutes of this film are so off the wall insane, that it left me sitting as the credits rolled by, trying to come to terms with what I just saw. That is certainly a compliment.

Lucy follows a woman who wakes up to a sore stomach and the knowledge that she is now a drug mule for a new experimental drug. However, the drug has a very interesting affect on her. To make things simple, the answer is a hard yes.

Yes, this film is very dumb. Yes, this film is beyond insane and bonkers. But the competence of director Luc Besson and the cast help gloss over (for the most part) the stupidity of it all. Scarlett Johansson gives us a strong female badass without going overboard with victimizing or over sexualizing her, which is refreshing.

And as the film progresses, her character change is nice. The rest of the cast does well, as they all seem to realize how ridiculous everything is. The action is pretty good, with the shootouts and car chases providing the necessary adrenaline rush and oomph factor.

And, surprisingly, the visual effects (mostly towards the end) are handled extremely well and look pretty good. Now, as I mentioned, the film is stupid, and it really wears that stupidity proudly as it goes all out in the last thirty minutes.

But then again, that is a good thing. The film knows what it wanted to be and stuck with it, all the way up to an ending that is sure to irritate a lot of people. But it never tried to be philosophical or a game changer.

It set out to be fun and ridiculous, and it certainly delivered on that.