The premise, which draws inspiration from Limitless and The Matrix among others, is neat: innocent woman (Johansson) is set-up to become a drug mule.  The package leaks into her stomach and causes her brain to open up, giving her dulled emotions and feelings, heightening her senses, and unlocking abilities beyond our comprehension.

The “science” behind Lucy is that the drug is a synthetic version of a hormone produced during pregnancy in very small doses.  When built up in a mass quantity the average 10% of the brain that we usually use can unleash the full 100% capacity.  This “human beings use 10% of their brain” is a myth that has somehow weaseled it’s way into being what a lot of people think to be true.  But reality aside, the idea that the brain becoming more powerful to control other minds makes sense…but telepathy and telekinetic abilities just don’t make any kind, even in sci-fi.  This is the main problem with the film; it thinks it’s a smart, mind-blowing movie but appproaches it with stupidity rather than sophistication.

Writer/director Luc Besson last directed 2013’s The Family, which had an absolute home-run concept, cast, and tone which it managed to squander with some of the choppiest editing and what felt like a studio hack job.  It didn’t feel like a Besson film in the least.  Lucy, for all intents, is the first time since The Messenger that he seemed to have an interest in what he’s written.  Though it lasts about 80 minutes without credits, nothing feels like it was sliced out of the script, and it moves at breakneck speed.  The opening credits has a score that reminded my of The Fifth Element‘s weird, avant garde music, which I loved.  Then the first 25 minutes or so are pure gold, with Johansson hitting all the right emotional notes for a woman tossed into a bad situation with really dangerous people like Mr. Jang (Min-sik Choi).  Every character except her is nothing but a caricature.  Yadda yadda yadda, Amir Waked as a police officer who doesn’t belong in the story, a love story that exists for 2 minutes, Morgan Freeman has a dumbfounded look on his face for about 30 minutes, random pointless shootouts, a ton of CGI, black goo, an acid trip, credits.

Look, I walked out of the theater reflecting on why after about 50 minutes of pure nonsense that I still didn’t hate the movie, and it’s due to it’s audacity.  I truly respected the concept once I saw where Besson wanted to go with it.  Is this something he could successfully write?  Absolutely not, but the balls the film had are absolutely massive.  Once 100% of the brain is opened, we see the potential for how big the film could have gone if it had gotten there sooner.  Instead of being an intelligent sci-fi film the plot lives inside of a stupid Besson buddy action-comedy for no apparent reason.  There are glimpses at what could have been that I really enjoyed, actually, but it’s just not enough to salvage.  While Lucy‘s a complete failure, it’s a really INTERESTING failure, and I’d recommend a curious rental.