Lucy (2014), R, ★★

Lucy (Scarlett Johannson) getting kidnapped. 

It cannot be possible for 100% of the brain to work, otherwise, we will be powerful, psychotic and insane and then we may throw everybody around or use "Jedi-like" powers. However, if I had those abilities to have 100% brain power, I would basically predict what would happen to the stock market and probably retire early. But, that's just me. Anyway, to have something inflicted into the brain to create powerful abilities to change the world would have that one person struggling to control his or her powers, kind of like a superhero, mostly Spider-Man. This movie has the distinction of showing us what the brain is capable of when it shows a countdown of how much the brain is used. It is informative, but a ridiculous second half derails the movie and my experience with the movie.

Lucy (Scarlett Johannson) is a hard-partying woman who lives in Taipei, Taiwan and has a relationship with her boyfriend, Richard (Pilou Abasek). She has to work as a drug mule for a Taiwanese gangster and drug lord, Mr. Jang (Min-sik Choi). Handcuffed to the briefcase, Lucy delivers it containing highly valuable bags of blue powered substances that increases the user's brain function capacity. Lucy is ordered to do a job and after she refuses, she gets smacked up and gets unconscious.

Lucy wakes up in a hotel room with her stomach bandaged and a British man explains to her that a drug, CPH4, is implanted into her lower intestines and because of the drug's success, it is planned to be marketed and smuggled across the world. When one of the thugs starts kicking Lucy in the stomach in a secluded room, they cause a tear in the bag inside her to leak releasing the brain-enhanced drug into the system.

After Lucy reawakens, she frees herself after tempting and killing a man and gets one of the two taxi men to take her to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, she begins to hear peoples' voices and as her supernatural powers begin to increase and time running out, she is willing to find the people responsible. But, she contacts a well-known scientist and doctor, Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman), when she thinks that his research can cure her problem to get rid of the powers.

Professor Norman (Freeman) and Lucy (Johannson).

This is a tough movie to like or dislike because the premise is familiar and a bit overbearing, but it was fun to watch. This movie has elements from Limitless, Salt, The Matrix, Transcendence and a bit of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The movie incorporate all those elements into a kick-ass film with science fiction ridiculous and feminine action that is worth rooting for. Even though the lead heroine is interesting and worth rooting for, the movie loses me when the drug's progress increases in her system, but the stakes and interest decreases. It raises questions as to why gangsters are chasing Lucy all over the place even if she powers to take them all down. Why don't the gangsters just forget about her and leave her be? Then, it goes down to a ridiculous and laughable conclusion that made me angry.

Scarlett Johannson's performance is real good as she is on a roll in her stage of the career with The Avengers, Her, Captain America 2, and the overlooked, but superb Under the Skin. Even though the performance is good, the movie is not an embarrassment on her resumé, but it is kind of a setback. Morgan Freeman really serves as a narrator for how the drug works and as a mentor to help her, but even though it is sort of a caricature, it is still not a bad performance. I liked Choi Sin-Mik as Mr. Jang as he is pretty menacing.

The first half of the film is interesting and fun as it reaches to the middle of the drug's progress as how she is able to use her powers. I already pointed out the second half's weaknesses and problems as it kind of turns to action-filled junk. You just see people shot and people die in explosions, and then what? Despite the solid performances and carefully, but well-done staged action sequences, the plot starts ambitious and fun but it gets ridiculously and laughably silly that it gets more difficult to care about the lead character. I wanted to have fun on this ride, but the nonsense just interferes my experience and thoughts to give it a positive review.

**