Can a movie be smart yet exceedingly dumb? Is it possible to look past empty dialogue, pointless action and shallow characters to recognize a film’s deeper message? Have I just been mercilessly trolled? These are questions I kept asking myself after seeing Luc Besson’s “Lucy”.
An American college student named Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is studying abroad in Taipei, Taiwan, when her boyfriend forces her to deliver a suitcase to a Korean drug lord, who then abducts Lucy and forces her into becoming a drug mule. She is subjected to sexual assault and multiple beatings. The last beating forces the bag of drugs in her abdomen to rupture, spilling the substance into her bloodstream. The drug allows her to increase the percentage of her brain she can use, from 10 percent — the “human average,” according to the film — to 100 percent.
Up to this point, the film’s grasp on reality was tenuous at best but then just went insane. We get car chases, supernatural levitation, shootouts with seemingly endless shouting from Korean gangsters and a mind-controlling heroine who literally dissolves at some point. With a lighter and more skilled directorial touch, “Lucy” might have owned this onslaught, but the film rushes into being strange just for the sake of being strange.
It’s so fast-paced and action-heavy that any deeper meaning this film might intend is lost. There are messages Besson wants to get across, but he doesn’t have the patience or skills to send them well, which is a shame because the rich themes this film could have explored are there.
Johansson actually might make this film work. Her screen presence is just fascinating. She becomes an unknowable being with no particular aim except to obtain more of the drug that she knows will kill her in 24 hours. One mannerism that she uses to great effect is tilting her head to the side before she strikes, like an animal slightly amused by its terrified prey. Johansson manages to seamlessly transition her character from a frightened, vulnerable victim to a dangerously inhuman beauty. Without ScarJo, I might have left the theater halfway due to the sheer ludicrousness.
Whatever else, this movie is a singular theater experience. I am so frustrated and confused by this film that I will see it again just to gain some closure. It’s a movie that you will think about long after you probably should.
[A version of this story ran on page 9 on 7/31/2014 under the headline "Lackluster ‘Lucy’ will blow your mind for all the wrong reasons"]
