Lucy (Luc Besson)

[Henry Gale]

IMDb

[Henry Gale]

Well, holy shit. This is way weirder and more ambitious than anything the marketing would like to let you realize.

Sure, its basic conceit and the narrative structure that derives from it is pretty dumb and ridiculously vague even when it gets tries to get didactic about it, and as it chugs along with a lot of insane imagery and ideas that seem to just sort happen and move on once those pieces of Lucy's evolution are finished with instead of congealing into something more thematically meaningful. But damn if it isn't really fun and even more and more breathtaking as it progresses.

The biggest surprise is just how unabashedly and ballsily strange and even stylistically experimental it decides to be despite how many of those impulses would seem to clash with its otherwise straightforward action beats. It oddly doesn't more often than not, and even when it does go for face-value formula, like fairly well-worn chase and fighting elements, they come off much more exciting than they have any reason to because of how assured they're played with the framework of the story elements increasingly making everything seem like anything can happen in them.

It takes visual and thematic inspiration from Tree of Life and even takes actual footage from Samsara in its many sequences of juxtaposing imagery from the natural and urban world in the middle of otherwise expected scenes, and that doesn't even go into the things Johansson's body ends up doing. (Lucy and Under the Skin dual spoiler: [

Show Spoiler

I really appreciate and commend how much she's been willing to subvert her well-known and endlessly desirable physical appearance into being shedded, sliced, stretched, disintegrated and turned pitch-black this year.

])

It does a hell of a lot in its brisk 89 minutes, and I'm not going to pretend like all of it works as it wants to (there are just as many laugh-out-loud as guttingly dark moments, and often times I wasn't sure which were intended to be which) or that it comes together with an ending that fully satisfies the weird potential it balloons for itself to that point or even wraps things up all that cleanly, but man if it didn't throw me for way more loops than I had ever expected it to and stunned me on those levels alone.

For every movie whose trailers seem to spoil way too much these, there are movies like Lucy where I kind of wish they would show a little more of their true vibes and offbeat content to let people who might actually enjoy it for that to have the urge to seek it out. Not that there's any real competition from what I've seen, but for me this is easily Besson's best since Fifth Element, and in my broadest, wildest expectations of it, that's all I could've really asked for.

*** / 7.7

[Dukefrukem]

I love reading your posts

[Henry Gale]

Thanks Duke!

I envy those on this site who can condense their thoughts into a few short sentences and get their point across perfectly since I almost always set out to write those types of short blurbs, and yet they almost always end up turning into things that look way too long and once they're done. :lol:

So always glad to hear when they're not only cohesive but enjoyed as well.

[Skitch]

Wow I really wanna see this now.

[Irish]

I'm curious about this because a bunch of young critics & vulgar auteurist fanboys are going gaga for it .. But I've also heard from other sources that it's a clusterflock of bad. Like, really bad.

[Peng]

I previously had no interest in this until I came across a twitter blurb along the line of "As if Luc Besson saw The Tree of Life and said, 'I *must* remake this as a superhero film!' " Even the negative reviews make it sound fun to watch.

[Henry Gale]

I'm curious about this because a bunch of young critics & vulgar auteurist fanboys are going gaga for it .. But I've also heard from other sources that it's a clusterflock of bad. Like, really bad.

It's... both?

Look, for a movie like this, released in a season like this, from a director who hasn't helmed something that's truly invigorating since I was a kid, I'd always much rather have something that strives as adorably high as it does, trying as many things as it does, and only ends up with positive returns some of the time while still securing a completely off-kilter tone and rhythm throughout instead of so many other options out there right now that design themselves as simple crowd-pleasing fare and still end up as convoluted messes in their own right.

It is so far from perfect, but there's also not all that much to directly compare it to. It's like all the minds and ideas of all the movies I mentioned above, Akira, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Limitless, any given X-Men movie and Cosmos had a weird orgy that was transcripted and feverishly adapted into one giant, rag-tag, all-consuming story.

Its universe is so elastic and rudimentary, and yet it's so unabashed and confident in what (and how) it wants to be that it's effective and emotionally undeniable in the weirdest ways. If this came out when I was 11 or 12 it'd be one of my favourite movies of the year, but of course my pesky current age and comprehension has to come in and spoil the fun by realizing it doesn't actually make any real sense.

[dreamdead]

Mad fun. Just zany, mad fun. Love how much Besson cuts to other footage.

The last few minutes are a slight cop-out, and the amount of human collateral seems a bit in contrast with Lucy's kinda-sorta goal, but otherwise it's dandy all around.

[Irish]

Oh wow. What the hell, dream? I feel oddly betrayed :lol:

Where do you land on the rest of Besson's work? (And for context: Movies like Gamer and Crank?)

[max314]

After reading Henry Gale's review, my status has graduated from "mildly interested" to "must watch".

[dreamdead]

Oh wow. What the hell, dream? I feel oddly betrayed :lol:

Where do you land on the rest of Besson's work? (And for context: Movies like Gamer and Crank?)

I agree with those that feel that Malick/Kubrick have been distilled and reworked to fit Besson's aesthetic. This film's not as "deep" as those filmmakers, but it's so odd to see a "blockbuster" film take this many chances narratively and cinematically--it goes for broke and while it doesn't always succeed (Lucy's shooting of the first taxi driver makes for little emotional sense), it's totally singular as a vision.

I have decently fond memories of Leon (though it's been at least a decade since I've seen it), and less appreciation for The Fifth Element (though I love the costumes and world building in that). This is Besson's most interesting film I've seen, I can safely say.

I do like the Crank films, which likewise build every chance of moral and cultural affront into their texts but commit to them so much and so absurdly that I don't feel disturbed by their frequently lowbrow sexual/racial stereotypes. Haven't seen Gamer.

[Alex Weitzman]

I like to think that Besson was just sitting on a shitload of B-roll, and made up some nonsense about brain capacity and preggers-drugs to justify using all of it. "I 'ave all zis footage of animals fucking, and I am damn well going to use it!"

That was fun, well-made, and righteously smartdumb. Scarlett sold most of the movie's idiocies nicely. If anything, I'm disappointed by the ending, and the 100%. It felt arbitrary, brief, and uncertain, as if Besson ran out of all his good ideas earlier. If we're gonna take a total tour of time and space, then at least we could have been granted the fun and spectacle of Lucy going super-Tetsuo on Druglord McHurthands.

[Henry Gale]

Weitzman! (As a former RT lurker turned member from as far back as 2002 or so that was disappointed to see the current forums folded, more than glad to see you here.)

I agree though, the biggest problem with this movie -- once you get past the inherent weakness of its internal logic and the way its plotting is dictated by it -- is the ending. I'm sure there were more than a few budgetary limitations that forbid Lucy from going into the physical omnipotent capacities you and me and likely every viewer behind it towards the end would've wanted to see, but I do think something in another few minutes beyond what we got would've at least provided a nice come-down from all its madness and provided a clearer philosophy or at least a final thematic thrust for the movie to go out on.

How 'bout some of those scenes right before it, though!

[Dukefrukem]

Am i going to have to see this today? Damn it.

[Sxottlan]

Some day, someone is going to pair up Lucy's speech to her mother with montage footage from The Tree of Life.. and it may just work. :lol:

[Kurosawa Fan]

Totally gonzo fun. This is what silly action flicks should strive for. The comparisons to Tree of Life are apt. This is like Tree of Life for Idiots. The ending spoils it a bit, especially that groan-worthy final line. Was surprised by the effort put forth by ScarJo. Figured this would be a mail it in performance, but she seemed to put her all into it, which especially came through in the quieter moments. All in all, a fun night out.

[Rowland]

especially that groan-worthy final line.

Yeah, I didn't get that line at all. What exactly am I supposed to know to do?

[Kurosawa Fan]

Yeah, I didn't get that line at all. What exactly am I supposed to know to do?

No clue. I'm still stuck at 10%.

[Rowland]

Mad fun. Just zany, mad fun. Love how much Besson cuts to other footage.

I was disappointed that he largely abandoned the associative editing after the first act, even if it resembled half-baked N/T or '90s Oliver Stone.

[Rowland]

No clue. I'm still stuck at 10%.

I just had to look up the line.

“Life was given to us a billion years ago. Now you know what to do with it.”

How the fuck does that make any sense at the end of this film, after that climax, over that last shot? I'm at a loss, it's baffling. :lol:

[Rowland]

A thoughtful piece on this film by Tasha Robinson was published over at The Dissolve today.

Christopher Orr's "spoilereview" is a funny read as well.

[ciaoelor]

spoilers...

It's not suspenseful enough. For instance, what happened to her in the plane should have happened in a scene with bad guys. Or there could have been a scene where she loses her purse (somehow) and has to chase after it while coming apart. And what if the main baddie ingested the drugs after finding out that Lucy had somehow become a superwoman? Lucy needed a threat. Unfortunately there are two moments where she's faced with henchmen who you know have no chance against her.

And what about that car chase? I wish she had made an attempt to manipulate the traffic and people in order to avoid causing as much damage as she did. She didn't have to be perfect in the attempt, but an attempt would have been fine.

[Alex Weitzman]

“Life was given to us a billion years ago. Now you know what to do with it.”

Drugs.

Based on baby brains.

[Boner M]

I never want to meet someone who takes issue with the scientific inaccuracy of this.