Lucy is a gung-ho science fiction action thriller that starts fast and keeps going. It is not very believable, but is not meant to be; it is just supposed to be an exciting and entertaining story.

Scarlett Johansson plays a young woman in Taiwan that is tricked by a not-so-good boyfriend into delivering an attaché case handcuffed to her wrist to a nasty drug lord. In a quick but scary series of events, she is dragged into a nightmare in which a bag full of a new drug is implanted into her body so she can deliver it to Europe.

But she is beaten so badly the bag of nice blue chemicals ruptures with incredible side effects; it starts to dramatically increase her brain power.

Soon she is a super-powered angel of vengeance. She can outthink everyone and has strange telepathic powers, able to disarm and disable any number of opponents while she seeks a cure for her rapidly changing condition.

Morgan Freeman plays a brainy scientist who tries to help her.

It’s ironic that a movie about increasing human brain power displays so little intelligence and defies logic, let along physics, so often. But, the shootouts are fun, the film (written and directed by Luc Besson) has a quirky sense of humour and Johansson pulls off a demanding role with sometimes amazing aplomb. It’s not for all tastes, but has a sort of mindless appeal; all in all a decent summer popcorn movie.

Rating: three deer out of five

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Alf Cryderman is a Red Deer freelance writer and old movie buff.