Sci-Fi Lucy (2014)

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Title: Lucy

Tagline: The average person uses 10% of their brain capacity. Imagine what she could do with 100%.

Genre: Action, Science Fiction

Director: Luc Besson

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Amr Waked, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Pilou Asbæk, Lio Tipton, Shin Yoo-ram, Seo Chong-ju, Nicolas Phongpheth, Paul Lefèvre, Jan Oliver Schroeder, Luca Angeletti, Pierre Poirot, Pierre Grammont, Bertrand Quoniam, Loïc Brabant, Pascal Loison, Pierre Gérard, Isabelle Cagnat, Frédéric Chau, Claire Tran, François Legrand, Bob Martet, Alexis Rangheard, Tonio Descanvelle, Julien Personnaz, Christophe Lavalle, Renaud Cestre, Thibault Segouin, Matthew Bravais, Claire Zaniolo, Alessandro Giallocosta, Wolfgang Pissors, Sifan Shao, Paul Chan, Chou Chung-Wei, Huan Jhih-Cyuan, I. Cheng-Sheng, Frank Ma, Tseng Sheng-En, Liu Hsieh-Min, Sandra Abouav, Abel Aboualiten, Ken Lin, Hsing Feng, Hao-Hsiang Hsu, Laura D'Arista, Eunyul Hong, Samuel Churin, Mason Lee, Mohammad Aslam Ansari, Kevin Dust, Diego Llano, Timothy Reevis, Jaysson Reyes De La Cruz, German Tintaya Mamani, Kanneti Sawe Han, Cédric Chevalme

Release: 2014-07-25

Runtime: 89

Plot: A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.
Lucy (2014)

 
Scarlett Johansson stars as the title character in Lucy, a young woman who gains superpowers after a drug smuggling attempt goes wrong. Her new abilities shown in the official trailer include time manipulation, shape shifting, and exponentially increased intelligence.

From La Femme Nikita and The Professional to The Fifth Element, writer/director Luc Besson has created some of the toughest, most memorable female action heroes in cinematic history. Now, Besson directs Scarlett Johansson in Lucy, an action-thriller that tracks a woman accidentally caught in a dark deal who turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.

Lucy also stars Academy Award® winner Morgan Freeman and is produced by Virginie Besson-Silla for EuropaCorp.

Genre: Action-Thriller
Cast: Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman
Written and Directed by: Luc Besson
Produced by: Virginie Besson-Silla
 
I can't tell how I feel about this one. On the one hand, I HATE the 10% of your brain thing which they're probably going to make the focus of the movie. It's not accurate, it's not interesting and it's not unique. On the other hand, I think this film has the potential to be the one that proves we can have female lead superhero movies which could result in getting us Wonder Woman (unlikely), Captain Marvel, Black Widow etc.

I always enjoy watching ScarJo so I think I'll be able to move past the 10% thing, but I wish this had been a Black Widow movie.

ETA: By the way, how busy has ScarJo been recently? Captain America 2, Lucy, Under the Skin, Avengers 2 etc. Does she sleep? Does she have Multiple Man style Clones?
 
I'll have to try hard to get past the 10% brain usage myth. :(
We all use 100% of our brain but perhaps only 10% at a time.
http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih2/addiction/activities/lesson1_brainparts.htm
If Lucy can use 100% of her brain, this movie would mean somewhere in our brain we all have the ability to control our cellular structure to shape shift and have telekinetic powers.
The reality is that no two brains are created equally, and all brains have to practice something to be good at it. The brain has to learn/practice in order to do anything, that's why we're all wobbly and drooling when we are infants. To be a shape shifter, one must practice it daily:X3: so that you can grow more "shape shifter" cells in the "shape shifting" part of the brain. The same goes for telekinesis. :whistle::geek:

Meanwhile, I am also a Scarlet J. fan, so I am interested in seeing the movie.

I just hope the producers/directors weren't like, "we only use 10% of our brain... BUT WHAT IF WE COULD USE 100% OF OUR BRAIN?!" "That's brilliant, let's make a movie!"
 
That's right. For me, if they'd just say "Hey, it's a magic drug we've created that gives you super powers." Then I think I'd be fine with it. But when you're using bogus science when most people know better you've lost me.
 
I just hope the producers/directors weren't like, "we only use 10% of our brain... BUT WHAT IF WE COULD USE 100% OF OUR BRAIN?!" "That's brilliant, let's make a movie!"
In the trailer in the first post fast-forward to around the 1:00 mark... from the Morgan Freeman voice-over it seems like "What if...." is exactly the premise of the movie.

Looks like it might be a good action movie but it'll make science fans cringe.
 
Film: Lucy (2014)

The plot of this film initially seems like a standard "accidental superhero" story: heroine Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) receives a massive overdose of a new drug and acquires superpowers which enable her to gain revenge on those who have mistreated her. In reality, however, that is only the starting point of a highly ambitious tale which heads off in an unusual direction. The problem is that the basic premise of the story is flawed but, if you can swallow that, the film is well worth watching. If you'd rather find out for yourself then you had better stop reading as the rest of this review contains spoilers.

*************************************************************

Let's get the basic flaw out of the way first: that is the claim that humans only use a small percentage of our brains and that anything would be possible if we could substantially increase this. We see a scientist (Morgan Freeman) giving a lecture on this subject in a parallel plot thread which converges with the main thread when Lucy tracks him down to ask for his help. The problem is that this widely-popular notion is not true; neuroscientists, who have ever more sophisticated tools for studying how our brains work, state that we do in fact have a use for every part of them. This should come as no surprise, given the evolutionary imperative of "use it or lose it"; our huge brains absorb huge resources to make and maintain, and if we failed to use 90% of them, we wouldn't keep them for long.

This rather undermines the whole basis of the plot, and the dramatic way in which a number flashes up on screen from time to time to show the steady percentage increase in Lucy's use of her brain as the drug increases the neural connections. Also unconvincing are the consequences of this in terms of instant superpowers, fully developed and under control. Ultimately she attains near god-like powers, but she realises that this rapid evolution of her cells will have an inevitable conclusion within a matter of hours: her own death. There are echoes here of Flowers for Algernon, although Lucy is much more complicated, messy, fast-moving and violent than Keyes' classic tale.

Despite the flaws there is much to enjoy. First and foremost is Johansson's performance; I am not a fan of hers but I have to admit that she carries this film, giving an excellent performance while appearing in almost every scene. Then there are the playful moments that Luc Besson inserts: initially, as the helpless innocent Lucy has gang members closing in on her, the action is interspersed with clips of predators menacingly closing in on their prey. The impressive CGI takes centre stage in the finale, and the whole film is packed with such interesting detail that I would happily sit down and watch it again – not something I could say about many films.


(This entry is cross-posted from my science-fiction & fantasy blog.)
 
In the trailer in the first post fast-forward to around the 1:00 mark... from the Morgan Freeman voice-over it seems like "What if...." is exactly the premise of the movie.

Looks like it might be a good action movie but it'll make science fans cringe.
... and after finally watching it, I'm not sure if I'd call it a "good action movie" either. :thinking: The entire time watching it I couldn't help but think of the commercial with the older ladies & "But that's not how this works. That's not how any of this works!".

CDqD1KV.jpg
 

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