Lucy (2014)

This week Universal Pictures hopes to breathe life into a dead summer with their new film Lucy. Lucy, stars  Scarlett Johansson,  is Luc Besson's (The Professional, The Fifth Element) latest action thriller. The premise although a little far fetched is simple. Lucy is a student studying abroad in Taipei who, through a series of mishaps, ends up becoming a drug mule for a Taipei drug cartel. 

While transporting the drug overseas the package containing the drug explodes in her stomach and  it's contents are released into her blood stream causing a reaction to her body that changes her perception on reality and also her mental capacity. 

Lucy, written and produced by Luc Besson has the rare opportunity to have Him direct as well to make sure his vision comes through perfectly on this film. From the get-go film goers are bombarded with images of Lucy going about her daily life interlaced with Animal Planet slow-mo shots of animals eliciting the emotion the director wants to convey to the audience.  

Continuing on the theme from his earlier films (Nikita,  The Professional) -- Luc Besson empowers the female protagonist to have the same action hero qualities that are normally reserved for a male. Lucy is a smart, driven girl who knows what she wants and has the power to do it. 

As with most EuropaCorp films ( Luc Besson's production company)  Besson had chosen a plethora of European actors to star in the film.  However, this time around,  he has employed the skills of Scarlett Johansson (The Island, The Avengers) , and Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman (Wanted, Batman Begins). While both add an air of star power for the US movie audience, their roles unfortunately do not add much to the overall value of the film and could have been easily played by actors only known to European audiences. 

Unfortunately, the film starts falling part in the last 20 minutes of this 89 minute film and requires audiences to take a leap of faith with an impossible ending.  While Mr Besson has convinced moviegoers to suspend their disbelief and accept the notion of the film, he goes a bit too far. 

In the end Lucy is a good surreal film that welcomes  Luc Besson back into the role of director.  However, Lucy is more a film for him to try to get his "groove back" more than the blockbuster that is so desperately needed for the summer of 2014.