Lucy is a 2014 French action film directed, written and edited by Luc Besson, and produced by Besson and Europacorp. It was released on 25 July 2014. The film was shot in Taipei, Paris and Cité du Cinéma. It stars Scarlett Johansson as the title character, along with Morgan Freeman playing Professor Norman.
Lucy is a 25-year-old American woman living and studying in Taipei, Taiwan. She is tricked into working as a drug mule by her new boyfriend, whose employer is a Korean mob boss and drug lord named Mr. Jang. Lucy delivers a briefcase to Mr. Jang containing a highly valuable synthetic drug called CPH4. Lucy is captured and a bag of the drug is forcibly sewn into Lucy's abdomen and that of others who will also transport the drug for sales in Europe. While Lucy is in captivity, one of her captors kicks her in the stomach, breaking the bag, releasing a large quantity of the drug into her system. As a result, she begins acquiring increasingly powerful mental talents and enhanced physical capabilities, such as absorbing information instantaneously, telekinesis, mental time travel, and can choose not to feel pain or other discomforts, in addition to other abilities. She kills off her present captors and escapes.
Lucy travels to a nearby hospital to get the bag of drugs removed from her abdomen. The bag is successfully removed, and Lucy realises that she requires the bags inside the other three drug mules to continue expanding her neural capacity and that the process of rapid cell growth the drug is stimulating will eventually kill her. Returning to Mr. Jang's hotel, Lucy assaults him and telepathically extracts the locations of all three drug mules from his mind.
At her shared apartment, Lucy begins researching her condition and contacts a well-known scientist and doctor, Professor Samuel Norman, whose research may be the key to saving her. After Lucy speaks with the professor and provides proof of her developed abilities, she flies to Paris and contacts a local police captain, Pierre Del Rio, to help her find the remaining three packets of the drug. Her powers continue to grow, leaving her able to mentally disable an entire police force and the men who made her a drug mule. Lucy recovers the drug and must hurry to meet Professor Norman, with whom she agrees to share everything she now knows, after he points out that the main point of life is to pass on knowledge. Jang and the mob also want the drug and a gunfight ensues with the French police.
Lucy is a 25-year-old American woman living and studying in Taipei, Taiwan. She is tricked into working as a drug mule by her new boyfriend, whose employer is a Korean mob boss and drug lord named Mr. Jang. Lucy delivers a briefcase to Mr. Jang containing a highly valuable synthetic drug called CPH4. Lucy is captured and a bag of the drug is forcibly sewn into Lucy's abdomen and that of others who will also transport the drug for sales in Europe. While Lucy is in captivity, one of her captors kicks her in the stomach, breaking the bag, releasing a large quantity of the drug into her system. As a result, she begins acquiring increasingly powerful mental talents and enhanced physical capabilities, such as absorbing information instantaneously, telekinesis, mental time travel, and can choose not to feel pain or other discomforts, in addition to other abilities. She kills off her present captors and escapes.
Lucy travels to a nearby hospital to get the bag of drugs removed from her abdomen. The bag is successfully removed, and Lucy realises that she requires the bags inside the other three drug mules to continue expanding her neural capacity and that the process of rapid cell growth the drug is stimulating will eventually kill her. Returning to Mr. Jang's hotel, Lucy assaults him and telepathically extracts the locations of all three drug mules from his mind.
At her shared apartment, Lucy begins researching her condition and contacts a well-known scientist and doctor, Professor Samuel Norman, whose research may be the key to saving her. After Lucy speaks with the professor and provides proof of her developed abilities, she flies to Paris and contacts a local police captain, Pierre Del Rio, to help her find the remaining three packets of the drug. Her powers continue to grow, leaving her able to mentally disable an entire police force and the men who made her a drug mule. Lucy recovers the drug and must hurry to meet Professor Norman, with whom she agrees to share everything she now knows, after he points out that the main point of life is to pass on knowledge. Jang and the mob also want the drug and a gunfight ensues with the French police.
This film is complete - beautiful cinematography, great story, a gripping score and tension that crawls into you and won't let go. Fans of the Fifth Element will recognize the increasingly frenetic pacing and staccato use of scene cuts, as well as the gorgeous, flowing camera work and the use of visual allegory from Besson's previous projects. Old film tricks used in new ways serve to build the tension from the first frame to "Lucy"'s final, shuddering climax. Elements of Leon The Professional and La Femme Nikita are present but feel more refined here, more sophisticated and deliver even more "oomph" to action fans.
However, beyond what we know of Besson's previous work lies the truth of why "Lucy" is such a fantastic film and a true, "must-see". If you love sci-fi - It's an excellent rendition of a classic theme. If you love Scar Jo, she's never been better and again demonstrates the range of a true talent. But, if you love films - be you a student, an enthusiast or "in the biz" - you must see "Lucy". It is on of those rarest of works that will remind you of why you started loving movies in the first place.
