Lucy - New Luc Besson Film

e_e

Do people here really think that Besson is going for an intelligent, deep and provocative piece of speculative fiction? I think he's as aware of the silliness within as anyone and asks the audience to just embrace the film's ridiculousness.

It's strange to me that people go to a film about a myth that has been disproven and then ask for the film to somehow obey the laws of reality. It's not even remotely what the film is trying to do.

ancapailldorcha

e_e wrote: »

Do people here really think that Besson is going for an intelligent, deep and provocative piece of speculative fiction? I think he's as aware of the silliness within as anyone and asks the audience to just embrace the film's ridiculousness.

It's strange to me that people go to a film about a myth that has been disproven and then ask for the film to somehow obey the laws of reality. It's not even remotely what the film is trying to do.

I'd no problem with the film being daft. It's just that instead of having the "plot" as an aside, attention is constantly being drawn to it for some unfathomable reason. As I said before, Crank barely bothers with it's premise for the majority of it's runtime.
Recommending this based on how silly it is is akin to recommending Transformers 4 based on how much action it has.

MrStuffins

e_e wrote: »

Do people here really think that Besson is going for an intelligent, deep and provocative piece of speculative fiction? I think he's as aware of the silliness within as anyone and asks the audience to just embrace the film's ridiculousness.

It's strange to me that people go to a film about a myth that has been disproven and then ask for the film to somehow obey the laws of reality. It's not even remotely what the film is trying to do.

Of course he's not. But the least he could do is make a movie that doesn't become a clusterf*ck of half baked ideas, badly acted and horribly written.

MeIsGod

Good first half hour everything after that was pants.
Film tried to be too clever but it didn't work.

Warper

I was expecting a lot more from this after the pretty good reviews. It starts off well but then just becomes silly and all over the place with a very weak storyline. Shame as the idea is a good one and it could have been a good film but im afraid its all style with very little substance.

NyOmnishambles

MrStuffins wrote: »

[/spoiler] there is another little exchange where the scientist asks what she is creating and Freeman replies "some sort of Super-Computer I should think". HOW THE HELL DOES HE KNOW ALL OF THIS? [/spoiler]

He knows this because she tells him that she is going to do it

Give out about flaws in the movie all you want but this was clearly laid out and not something to criticise the director for

Anyway, I went to see this during the weekend and very much enjoyed it, though it must be said that I am a big Besson fan and this didn't disappoint in that regard

it seems like lots of the cutaways and various methods of getting the point across will either annoy the crap out of you or sit well with you and for me it worked, my wife liked it too so happy days

In a lot of ways it felt like a live action Manga movie and I really liked it for that, what I liked about it the most and what some posters above have mentioned is that it just went for it and in the hands of Hollywood this movie just wouldn't ahve worked for me at all I reckon

MrStuffins

NyOmnishambles wrote: »

He knows this because she tells him that she is going to do it

Give out about flaws in the movie all you want but this was clearly laid out and not something to criticise the director for

She tells him she is going to generate a giant super-computer?

NyOmnishambles

MrStuffins wrote: »

She tells him she is going to generate a giant super-computer?

Yup

he says something about wishing there was some way of storing everything she knows

She says she will build one

The Black Oil

I quite enjoyed this, even if it may not entirely work. The film waxes lyrical about brain capacity and neurons primarily through Sir Morgan of Freeman whose role is to do some splainin', yo'. Woven throughout we have content you'd likely see in a David Attenborough documentary. It's hard to say much more without getting into spoiler territory. With Luc Besson at the helm there are shades of Leon, the efficiency of Scarlett Johansson's character, for example. Traces of Bourne and Limitless are perhaps also evident, along with some Matrix and flecks of Inception when we reach Paris. At 90 minutes or so there is no waste here and Johansson is quite capable of carrying the film. Oh, and our friend Kasper from Borgen is in it.

GreNoLi

Was annoyed when she killed one of the taxi drivers with little reason, surely an enlightened being wouldn't murder an innocent person, fairly enjoyable tripe I suppose.

diograis

saw it in IMAX, so it was rubbish in HD at least :P very pretty!

crazygeryy

MeIsGod wrote: »

Good first half hour everything after that was pants.
Film tried to be too clever but it didn't work.

This.

I'm too pissed too type it.

Dempsey

This film is absolute drivel, the trailer made me wince but I thought I'd give it a crack anyways. I turned it off about half way through. Some of the dialogue is nonsensical even when you ignore the sci fi elements like the conversation with her mother on the phone. As for the premise around the potential of the human brain...:eek:

A steaming turd of a film that has somehow made an obscene amount of money. The perfect example of all that is wrong in Hollywood.

I too turned it off today at about the 50 minute mark. Moreover I was told that the ending was diabolical so just couldn't face it.

100% of the brain? More like brain dead crap.

Chris_Heilong

I thought it was grand, very Anime like in its execution of trying too hard to be deep and meaningful and then cartoon like violence all in the same setting, I get what the director was doing and like how he handled Lucy's transformations, I found it an enjoyable action flick with little to come back to but overall enjoyable.

FlashR2D2

....absolute rubbish from start to finish.

18MonthsaSlave

This is Luc Besson's lobotomized "2001".

leakyboots

Watched this over the weekend (finally) on the basis of an interesting trailer (and Scarlett is in it!), first 20 mins were entertaining after that... woeful stuff culminating in Scarlett

turning into a f**king USB stick as an ending

Very poor overall.

Mr. Loverman

Thought this movie was pointless... and why the **** was it in 3D? So annoying.

Teyla Emmagan

I'd been really looking forward to this and I thought it was utter sh(te.

UTTER sh(te.

e_e

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Thought this movie was pointless... and why the **** was it in 3D? So annoying.

Err, it wasn't?

Mr. Loverman

e_e wrote: »

Err, it wasn't?

In the cinema I went to it was in 3D.

Roark

The first 20-30 mins were ok as others have said. It was awful after that. That ending! Can't unsee it.

e_e

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

In the cinema I went to it was in 3D.

First I've heard of a 3D version even existing. Where'd you see it?

Mr. Loverman

e_e wrote: »

First I've heard of a 3D version even existing. Where'd you see it?

Here: http://www.google.com/maps/place/5+Hua+Min+Zhi+Xiang,+WuSi+Lu+ZhongYang+ShangWu+Qu,+Gulou+Qu,+Fuzhou+Shi,+Fujian+Sheng,+China,+350000/@26.090925,119.304944,19z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x3440514906397639:0xa714ff30742c8f5b

allibastor

Dempsey wrote: »

This film is absolute drivel, the trailer made me wince but I thought I'd give it a crack anyways. I turned it off about half way through. Some of the dialogue is nonsensical even when you ignore the sci fi elements like the conversation with her mother on the phone. As for the premise around the potential of the human brain...:eek:

A steaming turd of a film that has somehow made an obscene amount of money. The perfect example of all that is wrong in Hollywood.

How did you turn it off?

Dempsey

allibastor wrote: »

How did you turn it off?

By closing vlc player

Alex1983

I give the film 6/10

e_e

I think this page alone leads me to believe that this is the most underrated and misunderstood film of the year. Hell even the things people hate about it are exactly what I loved.

Whereas the consensus seems to seems to be that this is a dumb film that thinks it's smart I actually find it to be the reverse. It's an absolutely ridiculous and laughable (to a point) premise that is the jumping point for very witty direction on Besson's part. Honestly I can see this becoming a genuine cult classic for its weirdness, absurdity and boldness. Embrace the silliness.

Thargor

Ummm no, I didn't misunderstand anything thanks. Everything sh1t isn't automatically "cult" you know, some things are just bad, like this film.

e_e

Don't say things like "it's just bad", that silences the discussion in a needless way. I don't think the cult argument works at all either, there are many bad films every year that sink and then are completely forgotten about. Are those cult?

Anyway I didn't say you in particular misunderstood it, but when I read negative reviews elsewhere rating the film down for being purposefully absurd and not adhering to scientific fact I can't help but think that they watched with the wrong frame of mind. As if they expected the film to be entirely realistic and critically correct the 100% premise.

paulieeye

e_e wrote: »

Don't say things like "it's just bad", that silences the discussion in a needless way. I don't think the cult argument works at all either, there are many bad films every year that sink and then are completely forgotten about. Are those cult?

Anyway I didn't say you in particular misunderstood it, but when I read negative reviews elsewhere rating the film down for being purposefully absurd and not adhering to scientific fact I can't help but think that they watched with the wrong frame of mind. As if they expected the film to be entirely realistic and critically correct the 100% premise.

Gimme a slice of absurdity any day of the week...not sure bout anyone else but I thought it was sh!t cus of appalling acting and a cack script.

Thargor

e_e wrote: »

Don't say things like "it's just bad", that silences the discussion in a needless way. I don't think the cult argument works at all either, there are many bad films every year that sink and then are completely forgotten about. Are those cult?

Anyway I didn't say you in particular misunderstood it, but when I read negative reviews elsewhere rating the film down for being purposefully absurd and not adhering to scientific fact I can't help but think that they watched with the wrong frame of mind. As if they expected the film to be entirely realistic and critically correct the 100% premise.

I just cant get over the use of the stock footage and Morgan freemans droning nonsense, would it have killed them to get a science writer to write something that wasnt so insulting?

e_e

Both of those things were just really amusing to me tbh.

_Kaiser_

Watched this last night... I don't know what some people here were expecting TBH

It gets very "out there" towards the end alright but it moves along pretty well and keeps your attention - but on that ending: She's not actually a USB stick :rolleyes: She tells Freeman that she's going to build something to store the knowledge she's accumulated and will give him access to it - all she gave him was a key. As she cannibalised/absorbed existing computers to do it, presumably she IS now "everywhere" (as she sends to the cop's phone) - like Skynet was in T3 for example.

Oh as for the love interest - that wasn't the idea either. She kisses him and says it's a reminder, which I took to mean to have him around to help keep her focussed on the job while her mind expanded exponentially.

I enjoyed it myself - if anything I thought it was a bit short alright and I was rooting for her just to kill the mob gang and be done with it so we could focus on what was happening to her.

Solid blockbuster that doesn't wear out its welcome and has some great effects - and Scarlett is always worth watching

brianregan09

Even if i think it did could a little mad in the end I loved it, The bit where she's on the phone to her mam is brillaint you could nearly feel the pain she was going through

OldeCinemaSoz

It always amuses me that THE FRENCH are proud of THEIR CAPITAL. THE YANKS seem to be cowardly with their CITY STREETS. Another decent car chase THRU Paris in LUCY.

The rest of the film isn't half bad either.

8/10

Frank O. Pinion

razorblunt wrote: »

Awful, one of the worst big budget movies I've seen in some time.

Nowadays, $40 million is not a "big" budget.

I just watched this tonight and loved it. Without credits, 80 minutes of pure fun. Yes, the "10% of our brains" thing is a myth, but in the world of this film, it isn't.

razorblunt

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

Nowadays, $40 million is not a "big" budget.

I just watched this tonight and loved it. Without credits, 80 minutes of pure fun. Yes, the "10% of our brains" thing is a myth, but in the world of this film, it isn't.

If it's more than I can rustle up in a fire sale of my assets then it's big budget!

Let's say cinematic experience so as a replacement term, I still found it awful I have to say.

Just after watching this and I think that it may be the most joyful, ridiculously over the top piece of ambitious nonsense that I have seen in a very long time. It's like Besson saw Crank and decided to meld that approach to his style and then just went insane. Visually it is easily the most beautiful film of the year and reminded me quite a lot of Malick, in fact if Malick ever did an action film I imagine that Lucy is close to what we'd get. With blockbusters generally approaching the 3 hour mark it's incredibly satisfying to find a Summer film that can tell it's story in 82 minutes and yet leave you eager for another hour or two runtime. It has been a long time since I've enjoyed a film this much and while the middle is a little flat those opening 20 or so minutes and those final 20 are amongst the best cinema in years and I cannot wait to watch the film again.

I cannot understand how people dislike the film, it seems that people hate it for exactly the reasons that I fell in love with it. Complaining that the science isn't based on fact is just a ridiculous reason to dislike the film when you consider that Besson himself has stated that he knew the whole 10% thing was a myth but that used it because it made for a better set up.

e_e

Seconding all of the above, I can't comprehend the level of disdain this film gets. It's completely aware of its own absurdity and rightly embraces it.

I know what'll be getting my "most underrated film" vote in the upcoming film awards anyway.

silverharp

It was an ok movie , the premise for the movie didnt hold me and there was more suspension of belief than I could handle. the logistics of the movie were not believable unless I missed something, in what looked like "later that morning in Paris.." all the couriers were there and had somehow been magically transported from Berlin and Rome to Paris and the crime boss from china to boot, who would only have known something was up when the couriers were picked up at the airports