Movie Review: Lucy (2014)

Luc’s Lucy is a lucid Limitless that’s a little limited

A Limitless Matrix where Yakuza are the Agents (Smiths)

 

Director/Writer Luc Besson (Leon The Professional, The Fifth Element) retells a Matrix coming-of-powerful tale with a female lead (Scarlett Johansson) and more international flavor. We lose the Kung-fu (none here), but keep the prophetic black man as Morgan Freeman steps in as a professor Morpheus/Norman. If you think about it, this story could have been the Trinity awakening story that occurred before NEO took that pill.

 

The trailer shows us a woman forced to carry an experimental drug in her stomach that is slowly leaking into her bloodstream. The dosage unlocks the greater potential of the human brain and she begins to acquire extraordinary powers. Well yeah, it’s like where Neo asks about dodging bullets and Morpheus says ‘…You won’t have to’. So we wait for the big moment that The Black Widow becomes a better Avenger and does more than shoot guns. Unfortunately, the big pay off isn’t as big as it should be. Neo flew away from that phone booth at the end of the Matrix and we kinda scratched our heads. Lucy unlocks our ultimate potential and doesn’t do a whole lot.

Yeah, more Matrix talk. See, the Agents were built up over the entire movie as being total bad-ass so when Neo is able to stand up to them, it was a thrilling turning of the tables. The generic Yakuza in Lucy are killers, for sure, but never really more than gangsters with guns. If you ignore the fact that twenty-five plus Japanese men in dark suits and glasses, running around Europe, are basically invisible to all authority, then yes Lucy is in plenty of danger. Are you scared for her? No, not really. You pretty much think she’s fine ten minutes into the movie and that spoils the final confrontation(s).

 

Now I don’t mean to sound totally down on Luc’s Lucy. There are some brilliant cut scenes and references to nature and origins and cave- . Suffice to say, it’s a fun ride with a few familiar set ups, scenes and scenarios. Scarlett is fierce and sexy and is the perfect seasoning to keep this movie fresh past the expiration date. If you don’t expect too much more than the trailer, you’ll enjoy Lucy. I’m not a movie critic, I’m just critiquing a movie.

 

Want more Johansson? See my review for Under the Skin.

 

Check out all the movies I’ve reviewed.

 

————————————–

 

The Avengers (2012) Movie Review

The Avengers have always felt like a motley grouping of superheroes. There was always the power-class problem. How do you find baddies that can be handled by an enhanced human (Captain America), a invincible berserker (The Hulk) and a god (Thor)? After that, you have the clashing of personalities and each characters own history and lore to consider. It’s a tough challenge for anyone to write a story that accounts for this much diversity among the characters. Writers Zak Penn and Joss Whedon (+screenplay) have done a remarkable job in adapting the comic book franchise, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, into a blockbuster film. It’s a treat for both the older fans and younger audiences that might not be well versed in all things Avengers.

The film easily tackles all of the individual storylines and movies and gives enough head-nods to the previous events in each hero’s past to keep the continuity on point. Each hero is given ample screen time and shown doing what they do best. The two members without their own films are the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Each character is well developed and makes a solid addition to the core line up. In a nice touch, secondary characters are also given weight as SHIELD’s Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) is surrounded by team of capable individuals.

The Plot surrounds Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) outcast adopted-brother Loki (well acted by Tom Hiddleston) enlisting the help of an alien army in his bid to exact revenge and rule over earth. A team of earth’s mightiest heroes must answer the call to avenge despite their individual differences and motivations. This movie seems purposely written and paced with an awareness of other superhero movies and more importantly what has worked and what has not. We can dispense with some of the set up since you have seen their individual movies and should be up to speed on how we got here. The combat sequences are wonderfully choreographed and play to each characters strengths and exhibit great insight as to how they might interact if trained to do so. There’s a moment when Iron Man used Captain America’s shield to deflect his beam and take down several baddies at once. There are times when one character rushes in to save another at the last minute…and those scenes work because there are also moments when you expect help to arrive and it doesn’t and a hero is left to get themselves out of a jam.

The X factor

You can’t really do too much thinking about superhero teams without considering the X-Men. They represent another iconic assembling of superheroes and find themselves with a recent series reboot. The last outing X-Men: First Class (2011) really disappointed me with the climatic battle. It just wasn’t exciting. They teased us with the warheads being stopped by Magneto, but never gave us any real action sequences to Marvel at. I couldn’t help myself, sorry. The Avengers delivers quivers [ouch, I know]. You will get to see every combination and pairing of hero as teammates and as adversaries. This is a fanboy dream come true and it serves to show how formidable each Avenger is and shakes up the usually boring ‘heroes being recruited’ part of the film.

Action Acting

The script takes advantage of the actors and their onscreen alter-egos (meant both ways) and gives us great dialogue and lines to enjoy. It’s great to see each character interact and trade bards, display wit and take cheap shots at each other. This is one of those movies where the funny lines are actually funny and the audience literally applauded for many of the scenes. How often does that happen? This is what I would pretty much call a perfect superhero movie. It’s not weighted down by melodrama and doesn’t feel the need to prove its merit by tackling larger issues. It understands, it’s an action filled superhero movie and is content to be exactly that for its entire 143 minutes.

There’s a lot more to say about the Avengers. There’s the fine casting job of the new Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). I think we have room for another Hulk movie. There’s the great CGI work for both the Hulk and all of SHIELD’s toys. There’s a similarity of the final battle sequence to The Transformers Dark of the Moon (2011) and there’s the promise of what this new franchise could bring in regard to sequels and spin-offs. We’ll end here and simply say; if you’re a reader of comic books, a fan of superhero movies, you need to run out and see The Avengers. I am not a movie critic, I am simply critiquing a movie.