Lucy is a 2014 French-American science fiction action film, is about a woman who is accidentally caught in a dark deal but then turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic. It is written and directed by Luc Besson and stars Scarlett Johansson, Choi Min-Sik, Amr Waked, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Pilou Asbæk, Lio "Analeigh" Tipton, and Morgan Freeman. It is set to premiere in the U.S. on July 25, 2014. During its opening weekend, the film did pretty well at the box office in the United States and other territories within box office success, grossing $458,863,600 worldwide against its $40 million budget and received positive but polarized critical reviews. Although praise was given for its themes, visuals, and Johansson's performance, many critics found the plot nonsensical, especially its focus on the ten percent of the brain myth and resulting abilities.
Plot[]
Lucy Miller, an American student in Taipei, Taiwan, is deceived by her new boyfriend, Richard, into serving as a drug mule for a South Korean drug lord. She carries a briefcase with four packets of the valuable synthetic drug CPH4 to Mr. Jang.
After Richard is shot and killed, she is taken and a drug pouch is forcefully sewn into her abdomen for transport to Europe. During her captivity, a kick to her stomach ruptures the pouch, releasing a substantial amount of the drug into her bloodstream. Consequently, she develops progressively enhanced physical and mental abilities, such as telepathy, telekinesis, and the capacity for mental time travel, along with an insensitivity to pain. Becoming both merciless and devoid of emotion, she utilizes her newfound powers to eliminate her captors and flee.
Lucy heads to the nearby Tri-Service General Hospital to have the bag of drugs removed from her abdomen. The surgeon informs her that natural CPH4, produced in minuscule amounts by pregnant women during the sixth week of pregnancy, provides the energy necessary for fetal development. With her newly capabilities, Lucy goes back to Mr. Jang's hotel, eliminates his bodyguards, confronts him, and uses telepathy to extract the whereabouts of the three remaining drug carriers from his mind.
Lucy starts to investigate her condition and reaches out to scientist Samuel Norman, whose research could be crucial for her survival. After providing evidence of her advanced abilities to Norman, she travels to Paris and enlists the aid of local police captain Pierre Del Rio to locate the remaining three packets of the drug. On the flight, her cells begin to destabilize, causing her to disintegrate after drinking champagne. To prevent further disintegration, Lucy consumes more of the drug. With Del Rio's assistance, she immobilize more of Mr. Jang's gangsters who were performing unauthorized surgery on other mules, and retrieves the rest of the drugs. Using her abilities to hack into the media mainstream, Lucy detects Mr. Jang closing in on her so she grabs Del Rio's wheel and speed drive to University of Paris, while also evading a police chase because of her reckless driving. Upon meeting Norman and his colleagues, she decides to impart all her acquired knowledge to them.
In the professor's laboratory, Lucy delves into the essence of time and life, discussing how human nature skews perception. Running out of time, she insists to receive an intravenous injection with the contents of the three remaining CPH4 bags. Her body morphs into a black substance that spreads across the lab's electronics, converting them into a cutting-edge supercomputer. She embarks on a mental voyage through spacetime, eventually encountering humanity's earliest known ancestor, Australopithecus Lucy. They share a serene exchange, touching fingertips. Lucy then travels to the very inception of time, witnessing the Big Bang. Concurrently, Mr. Jang and his men show up at the university and start gun firing as the security guards and De Rio try to retaliate. Mr. Jang enters the lab, aiming a gun at Lucy. He fires, but Lucy, having achieved full cerebral capacity, vanishes into the spacetime continuum, leaving behind only her attire and the black supercomputer.
Del Rio enters and lethally shoots Mr. Jang. Norman retrieves a black flash drive presented by the supercomputer, which then disintegrates. Del Rio inquires about Lucy's whereabouts, and right then, his cell phone alerts him to a text message reading, "I am everywhere." Subsequently, Lucy's voice declares, "Life was bestowed upon us a billion years ago. Now you understand what to do with it."
Cast[]
- Scarlett Johansson as Lucy
- Morgan Freeman as Professor Norman
- Amr Waked as Pierre Del Rio
- Pilou Asbaek as Richard
- Julian Rhind-Tutt as The Limey
- Choi Min-sik as Mr. Jang
- Lio Tipton as Caroline