So I finally got around to watching the Luc Besson movie Lucy. Indeed it does have quite a few issues. Before seeing it I wrote about it defending it a bit here. But now having seen it, the scientific discussions (both the way evolution is explained and brain function) presented by Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) and the nature imagery used throughout it really seemed to get in the way of the action and suspension of belief. The movie is essentially science fiction fantasy with more fantasy than sci-fi .
This movie could have been better if they removed the word ‘brain’ or only just superficially discussed it. There are elements in the movie that seem potentially ‘Matrix’ like. But unlike the Matrix we realise the world presented is a simulation, in Lucy it confuses reality a lot more in a more magical arbitrary way.
Lucy does seem to be a little reminiscent of some final concepts of his other film The Fifth Element.
Much of what the movie seems to depict seem to be similar to the way people describe taking psychoactive components of mushrooms.
How could Lucy be improved? Don’t focus on the science so much, don’t try to explain the situation. But the story needed to be streamlined a bit. Make Lucy struggle and learn her powers a bit more. It would have worked more effectively if there was another opponent that had similar powers but lacked some fundamental aspect.
A few references: