Introduction
Lucy is a science-fiction action film released in 2014 that was both directed and written by Luc Besson. He is known for his stylistic and often philosophical genre works like Léon: The Professional, The Fifth Element, and La Femme Nikita. The film stars Scarlett Johansson in the title role, with Morgan Freeman portraying a leading neuroscientist. Lucy tells a visually dazzling story filled with fast-paced action that revolves around the theme of human consciousness and intelligence, trying to transcend the natural limits.
The film opens with a bold (yet scientifically untrue) premise: if a human could unlock 100% of their brain’s capabilities, what would happen? With that, Lucy takes the audience on a action-packed conceptual journey infused with science fiction, philosophy, and great cinema.
Synopsis
Taipei and Paris serve as the film’s main settings. The story begins with Lucy, a young American student living in Taiwan. She is persuaded by her shady boyfriend to deliver a briefcase to a powerful Korean drug lord, Mr. Jang. The deal ends poorly, resulting in Lucy being kidnapped and turned into a drug mule for a new, highly potent synthetic drug known as CPH4, a drug capable of greatly enhancing cognitive abilities.
After being assaulted, a drug packet inserted into her body abdominal region ruptures, releasing its contents into Lucy’s body. Instead of dying, Lucy undergoes life-altering changes. For starters, her mental capacity improves tremendously. Lucy can now learn languages, gain insight, and even master specific skills at lightning speed. In addition, she can now control various aspects of her physiology. Throughout the course of the film, Lucy’s brain capacity—and mental percentages—growing alongside her powers. She can gain the abilities of telekinesis, telepathy, manipulation of time perception and, ultimately, a form of omnipotence.
While trying to figure her life out, she comes to the conclusion that Lucy is losing her humanity, and in its place is evolving into something entirely different. To help her out, she contacts Professor Samuel Norman, a well-known neuroscientist who specializes in studying the theoretical potential of the human brain. As Lucy evolves, she attempts to transfer the wisdom she is acquiring to stave off a condition that threatens to rend her body and consciousness apart.
In a race against time, with Lucy’s enemies closing in, she works with French detective, Pierre Del Rio, to locate and recover the remaining packets of drugs. Lucy’s character uses her supernatural powers to avoid being captured, extract information, and eventually build a supercomputer to store her knowledge. In the film’s closing moments, Lucy reaches her full brain capacity and ‘transcends’ as she physically disappears, leaving a flash drive with the knowledge she has accumulated. Her last message was simple yet profound: “I am everywhere.”
Cast and Characters
Scarlett Johansson as Lucy
Johansson’s character journey begins as a relatable, panicked young woman, later evolves into a more emotionless and godlike figure as her brain function increases. Johansson’s portrayal has been described as calm, chilling, and calculated during Lucy’s transformation into a machine. Her emotional and physical restraint support the character’s transformation and drive the film’s most ambitious ideas.
Morgan Freeman as Professor Samuel Norman
Freeman plays the calm, authoritative voice of the film’s scientific reason. He has described Norman as the philosophical and expositional backbone of the film. He characterizes his voice as calm lucy’s powers are growing, and thus, his necessity to help narrate her transformation increases.
Amr Waked as Pierre Del Rio
As a member of the French police force brought on to Lucy’s mission, Waked provides a human touch to the narrative. His confusion and powerlessness stand in stark contrast to Lucy’s increasingly detached, emotionless demeanor.
Choi Min-sik as Mr. Jang
Choi Min-sik, best remembered for his role in Oldboy, plays the film’s primary antagonist, bringing with him a sense of menace and brutality. Though his role becomes less relevant as Lucy gains power, his portrayal in the film’s early scenes captures the blend of real violence and speculative science fiction that defines the film.
Themes and Philosophical Questions
The film explores the following questions:
The Limits of Human Potential
Lucy is driven by the idea of cognitive evolution. What would we become if we were no longer limited by biology? In this film, the assumption is made that intelligence equates with divinity. Knowledge and omnipotence, after all, are indistinguishable. Lucy’s journey, therefore, is a metaphor for transcendence: moving from mortality to godhood.
Time and Perception
Through Lucy, we can see how time can be interpreted as a measurable distance and a capacity that can be traversed. The film even shows Lucy witnessing the planet’s birth and the early hominid encounters. The movie suggests that time might be the ultimate measure of existence and understanding it might reveal the secrets of life.
The Meaning of Life and Legacy
One of the most intriguing moments of the film is when Lucy forms a flash drive that stores vast data. This data drive can be interpreted as a turn into data-filled vents that have the capacity to preserve humanity’s intellectual achievements. This flash drive is quite symbolic as it shows Lucy’s willingness to share the understanding of existence she has come to know. She even poses the potential question, “Life was given to us a billion years ago. What have we done with it?” Such phrase truly resonates with the audience and lingers even after the credits roll.
Style and Direction
The first few minutes of Lucy present us with some of the most remarkable wildlife and nature shots, parallel imagery, and vivid symbolisms. Through lucy, we can see how the wild is calm and vivid at the same time. This vivid and bold luc encourages nature lovers to have a deeper understanding of the wild roommate the Lucy achieves throughout the film and as Lucy’s abilities develop, the film morphs into a dazzling, terrifying, and trippy psychedelic journey.
Besson doesn’t shun surrealism. As Lucy manipulates matter, shifts gravity, and even bends time, the visuals become more and more surreal. Some of the more ambitious sequences, such as the cosmic travel montage toward the end of the film, are reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Like much of the filmmaker’s other work, this film is precisely edited and the pacing is brutal, clocking in at around 90 minutes.
Scientific Fiction vs Real Science
The leading idea in the movie – that we humans only utilize 10% of our brain – is, in fact, a brain myth, disproved multiple times over by neuroscientists. The myth that we only utilize a small portion of our brain is untrue, as the brain is active across many areas even at rest. The difference is Lucy, unlike a lot of commentaries, is willing to take such a myth and use it as a foundation for creative storytelling. Philosophy is the primary theme in Lucy, rather than hard facts, making it more akin to Limitless or Transcendence than Interstellar.
Lucy’s Reception and Its Legacy
With a budget of only $40 million, Lucy grossed more than $460 million around the world, marking it as a commercial success. Critics remained divided, as some focus it for its visual originality and impact, or Johansson’s performance, and some for the logic and tone inconsistencies. Lucy’s criticism mainly came from the philosophical elements paired with the visual impact, which quite a lot of viewers enjoyed.
The bold and cerebral ending of the film drew discord. Was Lucy’s change meant to represent a form of digital immortality? A futuristic visual metaphor of humanity? Or a stylish spectacle with existential undertones? These questions are exactly the reason Lucy is discussed even to this day.
Conclusion
Lucy is an intriguing blend of action and science fiction that makes philosophical strides. While the science may be inaccurate, the artistic execution, the performances, and the ambition of the themes makes it memorable. Lucy is led by Scarlett Johansson who stars alongside a stunning array of visuals that encourage the audience to entertain extraordinary thoughts on the essence of existence, time, and human potential.
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