LUCY  3.5***

              Starting with the provocative premise that human beings use only 10% of their brain capacity,  French filmmaker Luc Besson ( “The Professional”, “Taken”, “The Transporter” & “La Femme Nikita”), who knew that this percentage was inaccurate, nonetheless plunged ahead with this inventive adventure, revolving around a naïve young American named Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) who gets tricked into delivering a mysterious metal briefcase to a Taiwanese drug lord  who then forces her to become one of his drug mules. When there’s leakage from the bag of blue crystals  that’s been surgically inserted in her abdomen, an amazing metamorphosis begins to occur. Lucy’s brain begins to use more and more of its power (going from 10% to 20%, then to 40% and so on) and thus  reaching heretofore unexplored human levels of aptitude. At first  she's hung-over, then next she's taking out a whole squad of hit men, then x-raying her roommate's body and diagnosing her with a single touch, and during every spare moment  in this fast moving story she’s on the computer totally absorbing i.e. downloading huge volumes of data at a fantastic speed.

The movie has been primarily sold as Johansson being a butt-kicking action character, but that is only partly true part . Actually there is more emphasis on cerebral aspects and as the movie unfolds, Lucy is  discovering  new and growing brain powers and trying to understand and assimilate them.

  After a decade when the only person to take her seriously as an actress was Woody Allen, Scarlett Johansson seems to have found her groove of late, with  “Lucy” as further confirmation of her niche.
She’s been a poker-faced Russian heroine in the comic book  “The Avengers” series, a murderously humorless but seductive alien in “Under the Skin” and a voice a guy could fall in love with in “Her.” And that’s the polished skill-set she brings to “Lucy,”  

 Johansson uses the exact right take and tone for the role of Lucy: slightly invested, mostly removed, observing it all with a bemused grin as she becomes more and more hyper-intelligent . She continues to surprise—she's become the rare actress who can  use her obvious sex appeal while at the same time surprising you with a convincing performance that here portrays not only “street smarts” but  hyper-intelligence. This may not quite be an Oscar worthy performance but it is one that is  perfectly portrayed and consistently on .She is sensational first as the terrified Lucy who then evolves into the confused and baffled Lucy and then into an almost God-like being. Johansson is perfect in all three personas. Lucy isn't quite as smart as it pretends to be, but it doesn't need to be. It has a movie star at its center who can more than take care of that on her own.

Lucy” continues a happy trend this summer. Unlike so many brain-dead big budget action movies, this is an excellent  sci-fi movie that effectively balances thoughtful or clever ideas with exhilarating action, each feeding the other. Lucy” follows nicely in the footsteps of “Edge of Tomorrow”,  “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Snowpiercer” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.”

Clark

PS: As you may know I am a Big fan of Scarlett Johansson. BUT despite that, I was highly impressed with her performance in this movie. She has become a very gifted actress who also happens to be a very, very attractive young lady !!