This film is all over the place. It’s trippy, violent, philosophical, illogical, and has a hint of dark comedy. Scarlett Johansson is what makes this film work at all. She’s gorgeous to look at, and has a quality that makes you invested in her character as soon as you see her. Unfortunately, we don’t know much about her, including her last name, before the plot thickens. While she does a great job early of bringing an emotional performance early on, her Lucy becomes increasingly more detached as she gains new abilities. Her motivations become too vague, and barely make sense at the end. The remainder of the cast is just there to fill a role or two before the story moves on, and you only barely get invested in anybody else in the film besides Johansson. (And that includes Morgan Freeman’s character, who would fail to draw you in if it was any other actor.) I had hoped there would be more action in the film, especially as Lucy becomes more powerful, but only a car chase has any real excitement. The plot has massive holes in it, and is only able to cover those up by watching Johansson’s character evolve. The opening of the film is odd, intercutting stock footage to parallel the story, and has a finale that seems to intentionally go over the audience’s heads. Even worse, it’s anticlimactic and makes the entire strange journey the film takes seem like a dead end.
** out of *****