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LUCY - directed by Luc Besson, starring Scarlett Johannson, music by Eric Serra
- Thread starter anaron
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I saw this yesterday. One of the stupidest movies I've seen in a long while. Complete garbage, is what I'm saying.
"See, fellow professors and associates, we've accomplished a lot with only 10% of our brain, but look at how great these dolphins are with their 12%. Echolocation motherfuckers."
"See, fellow professors and associates, we've accomplished a lot with only 10% of our brain, but look at how great these dolphins are with their 12%. Echolocation motherfuckers."
have you guys seen the wikipedia entry?
I wish that was actually true. I just got back and good lord, this movie was complete garbage. Bad acting, bad effects, Morgan Freeman was there because reasons. So much pointless dialog that I actually started to doze off.
Pointless car... chase? Was anyone actually chasing them? And why were there cars randomly flying through the air? Unlocking your brain allows you to time travel and turns you into a computer? Wait, why is she melting? We Akira now? Is she god? Flash drive?
Oh, and best of all
I AM EVERYWHERE.
I can't with this fucking movie. How this is sitting at 56% on RT, I haven't a clue.
Praise Lucy, I guess?
Chance Hale
Member
From Vulture
Why some people think the film at any point is attempting to be serious is beyond me.
The whole fun of the movie is you know from the very start that no one will be able to stop Lucy. Personally I thought the complete loss of her ability to express emotions and matter of fact answers to everything past the rather tense opening and call to the parents was rather amusing.
Because it's stupid. And not in a clever, funny way, but in a way that makes you roll your eyes every time they try to sell you on the idea that anything about the story isn't fucking dumb. A lot of people have been pulling out this tired excuse like, "well, do people really come to a movie like this expecting realism?"
If they said it was magic pills, or that she was the result of some scientific experiment that modified her body to perform crazy feats I would swallow it up far sooner than "well, she can do all this because unlike the rest of us she can use more of her brain." They even have a whole powerpoint presentation in the movie, just to convince the audience that this is something a collection of high-level scientists would actually entertain.
I'm sorry, but even the best action won't mitigate the fact that it's a stupid premise, and that the stuff in the movie that wasn't related to the premise wasn't good either.
Something like this really makes me appreciate something like Kill Bill more- a movie that is also highly unrealistic, but also far more functional, better written and exciting.
Edit: Also, I can't take the whole "not serious" thing as an excuse when the film plays itself mostly straight. If this was a dark comedy like Hot Fuzz then maybe.
PlayALLtheGames
Banned
I don't really think the "the movie not trying to be serious thing" really applies here but if it did it I don't see why it would be true. How is this movie not trying to be serious? The content is serious. It's the future, the world is run by gangs and crime syndicates, and this chick is a drug mule that has something leak inside her; not exactly a comedy.
It's fine that the movie is fiction, it's just weird that its entire premise is something that is flat out untrue. It's also weird that one of the movie's main characters plays a neuroscientist going around speaking said untruth and people casually believing it as if this movie was made a decade ago when we thought it was actually true.
I think they could have just left the whole 10% thing out and said the drug is affecting her brain somehow that's giving her these powers.
Anyway, the reviews mostly seem to support my prediction that this is the kind of movie I may watch late late night on HBO some night because there's nothing else on.
It's fine that the movie is fiction, it's just weird that its entire premise is something that is flat out untrue. It's also weird that one of the movie's main characters plays a neuroscientist going around speaking said untruth and people casually believing it as if this movie was made a decade ago when we thought it was actually true.
I think they could have just left the whole 10% thing out and said the drug is affecting her brain somehow that's giving her these powers.
Anyway, the reviews mostly seem to support my prediction that this is the kind of movie I may watch late late night on HBO some night because there's nothing else on.
Chance Hale
Member
How do you take it as anything but a dark comedy? Take the hospital scene where she
casually walks in and shoots a patient, only to say "he was going to die anyway"
gets taken out as he's cheering her on
Blackstarhat
Member
wow what a terrible movie not worth $8.00 for admission this is probbley the 2nd worst movie of the year with the first being transformers.
Absoludacrous
Member
I really don't understand the people calling it fun. Even if you don't care about the premise and are along for the ride, she doesn't even do anything that interesting, especially outside of the couple scenes you've already seen in the trailers.
By the end of the move, the villains are so unneeded to the plot that they're practically related to side-story fodder because they felt Lucy sitting in a chair for 20 minutes would bring the pace down. You have the female Neo in your movie and your entire climax involves a generic cops vs gangsters shootout. Not to mention they didn't even have the balls to go full Akira with it.
Denton
Member
It's posts like these that make me really hyped for it. The greater hyperbole someone spews, the more I look forward to it. Funny how that works.
haha, same!
I'll take an insane and ambitious Luc Besson film over something like Hercules any day
also, #1 at the box office:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/
Keyser Soze
Member
Why are people so put out by the premise of this movie, whilst laser swords, dream altering, giant mind controlled robots, and nuclear enlarged lizards get a pass with their absurdity?
I can imagine laser swords existing.
I can imagine a nuclear lizard.
There is simply no way that just by using more of my brain i suddenly defy the laws of physics.
It wouldn't be so bad if the movie didn't take itself so seriously. This movie thinks it is smart. It thinks it is making a statement. But, it is just dumb.
Keyser Soze
Member
I feel like it is just an origin story to make someone a superhero though. I am not a huge Marvel buff, but I feel many people became superheros under their guidance in sillier ways over the years.
I feel like this movie is getting a lot of hate just cause the main the main premise is based on a popularized myth. Sure,the core idea behind the movie is illogical, but you can pull apart many movies with a fantasy theme for been illogical.
I am happy to get lost in such movies, and just appreciate the absurdity. However, I was happy to enjoy stuff like Push, Jumper, and Wanted as well over the years, so maybe I am just easily pleased.
btw for those that have seen it, does the awesome Hi-Finesse song from the trailer appear in the film?
I think at the beginning of the movie.
AlphaSnake
...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
Just got back from it and thought it was pretty bad ass and crazy. Which is exactly what I expected.
Not sure what others were expecting from it?
Not sure what others were expecting from it?
Because in movies with laser swords and shit they just exist in the world they're not the major focus of the movie with an on screen display to tell you the percentage of dumb the movie is as it goes on.
I certainly wasn't expecting her to tell her mother she can "taste her breastmilk."
AlphaSnake
...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
There was definitely dialogue that could've been worded better.
vivftp
Member
Just got back from seeing it. About 30 minutes in the projector overheated, meaning we got no video but got audio. After dicking around with it for 10 minutes they got it started again! problem being we missed a good chunk of the movie and apparently they did not have the ability to fast forward it to the point where we left off. This meant we had to watch the entire first 30 minutes again.
In the end, pretty boring movie. The best part was that we all got free passes afterwards so I can at least tell myself I didn't have to pay to watch it!
In the end, pretty boring movie. The best part was that we all got free passes afterwards so I can at least tell myself I didn't have to pay to watch it!
I laughed out loud when she gets through this monologue that makes her sound like she fucking TRIPPING BALLS and her mom is like "honey, you broke up there what was that?" I don't think that was intended. Also, her mom didn't seem worried and she sounded like a legit lunatic or high on jenkem or a person about to commit suicide and I think all three of those would worry any mom a LOT.
blame space
Banned
this movie was really fun
I feel like I might have enjoyed this film when I was ten.
It's short, it's contemporary-set non-horror sci-fi (not particularly smart sci-fi, but not intended to be either) with a little action and a female lead many find attractive... I don't recommend it, but I also wouldn't tell someone interested in it not to watch it.
Did anyone else find it odd that it begins in Taipei, Taiwan but that the villains were all Korean?
Edit: This feels like a first draft or outline for a better film. Luc Besson has a habit of remaking films (importing / modifying the films of others or even reworking his own) for Americans. This feels like one of the films he made with and for a foreign audience on a shoestring budget over the course of two weeks, sort of in the Hong Kong style, with big ideas ripe to be reworked into something greater... but this is not that greater work by a mile. If you're used to wonky foreign film, you'll probably not be as offended by Lucy as people expecting a more polished product.
It's short, it's contemporary-set non-horror sci-fi (not particularly smart sci-fi, but not intended to be either) with a little action and a female lead many find attractive... I don't recommend it, but I also wouldn't tell someone interested in it not to watch it.
Did anyone else find it odd that it begins in Taipei, Taiwan but that the villains were all Korean?
Edit: This feels like a first draft or outline for a better film. Luc Besson has a habit of remaking films (importing / modifying the films of others or even reworking his own) for Americans. This feels like one of the films he made with and for a foreign audience on a shoestring budget over the course of two weeks, sort of in the Hong Kong style, with big ideas ripe to be reworked into something greater... but this is not that greater work by a mile. If you're used to wonky foreign film, you'll probably not be as offended by Lucy as people expecting a more polished product.
Forceatowulf
G***n S**n*bi
This was... not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It wasn't good though. Tolerable pop-corn flick.
Miggytronz
Member
Love the whole film til the final act. If you even call it a final act.
For a short-story about hyper-intelligence, read:
Understand by Ted Chiang
Understand by Ted Chiang
This movie was WILD. I actually liked it a lot tbh. There was a lot of cheesy dialog but the audience was laughing along with it. If you take the movie for what it is it's highly enjoyable. I really liked the third act. It's basically is 2001 like others said.
Movie is hot garbage. It's really a squandered thing, Besson clearly thinks he's doing something important--sharing the philosophies of his soul--but everything is trite, heavy-handed nonsense. The action is even interesting, that scene where Lucy walks up the hallway just hoisting dudes with her mind looked great. The car chase was great. Every time anybody opened their mouth, pls.
Weirdly split the difference between legit good and Total Campy Nonsense, but didn't land either aspect. Noah did National Geographic montages better. Cannot recommend anyone see this, just watch The Fifth Element instead.
Jesus read the 2001 comparison and wept.
Weirdly split the difference between legit good and Total Campy Nonsense, but didn't land either aspect. Noah did National Geographic montages better. Cannot recommend anyone see this, just watch The Fifth Element instead.
Jesus read the 2001 comparison and wept.
Miss.Selfdestruct
Member
Wow, it's incredibly entertaining reading all the negative comments on here. You peeps clearly are taking it waay too seriously, and didn't get Besson's angle or humor throughout the movie. Ah well.
Miss.Selfdestruct
Member
Paris car chase: they were in a hurry to get the 3 fairy dust bags from the hospital. Eventually, local PD got suspicious and went after them.
Cars flying: Lucy made those street blockers go up after they went through the street. Momentum + raised blockers caused the cars to flip and fly.
Turning into a computer: No, Lucy absorbed the tech nearby to make a PC, as she promised Morgan Freeman, and store all of her knowledge to pass it on. Since she had complete and absolute control over her cellular makeup, she was able to retain her physical human body while extending herself into that black tentacle thing.
There was no melting...o_0 She cannot be god because she did not create the universe. She died but was able to retain her consciousness, duh? Flash drives are very commonly used to store large amounts of data. What else would she use in an urgent situation?
Come on, bru :/
"duh"
Lol everything has an apologist. Bur also I'm glad you got something out of it.
"So is any of this science at all or is it total bullshit?"
"Yes, I'm making all of this up right now, based on exactly nothing."
"Wow. So could you please make up more things?"
"No I've made up all the things I can sorry."
Best lecture.
Black-Wind
Member
Choose between this and Hercules tonight. Lucy it was.
I knew the science was going to be nonsense going in, but little did I suspect it would be that much nonsense. It had its moments, but I couldn't get past the poor science when it was proactively using "science" to aid the narrative.
I think I enjoyed Limitless more for a similar take on the subject given it at least maintained tenuous plausibility.
If only this had leveraged stem cells and "body reconfiguration" in the mix I would have enjoyed this more. "Magic" didn't cut it.
I knew the science was going to be nonsense going in, but little did I suspect it would be that much nonsense. It had its moments, but I couldn't get past the poor science when it was proactively using "science" to aid the narrative.
I think I enjoyed Limitless more for a similar take on the subject given it at least maintained tenuous plausibility.
If only this had leveraged stem cells and "body reconfiguration" in the mix I would have enjoyed this more. "Magic" didn't cut it.
Onion_Relish
Member
This movie sucked. This pains me as a luc besson fan to say of course. I'm pretty sure Le Grand Bleu has more action in it than Lucy. The only reason this movie was tolerable was because I paid 30 bucks for two people and really wanted to eat popcorn. It's not even brain-dead fun, it's just bad. Avoid at all costs.
My cousin speaks Chinese and that bothered her. She also said they were switching between Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Also Lucy and her roommate living there and not being able to speak or read the language.
Cars were flying before the blockers, did you miss the one beside them that went spinning over their car?
So... she turned into a computer.
Black tentacle goo isn't melting? Also the random disentegrating on the airplane.
The time travel and interacting wirth the monkey certainly gave off that impression. Also, I AM EVERYWHERE sounds pretty omnipotent to me.
wat
Oh, I don't know, maybe the super computer that she built? All the knowledge in the universe fits on a flash drive, good to know.
That's what I'm saying.
kurisu1974
Banned
But those are the kinda roles we don't want to see her in.
Black-Wind
Member
Those are some strange things to pick out, replies in bold.
Reposting from the other thread about this movie, with a small edit:
Also, I ended up unintentionally watching two Luc Besson movies in two days, as I saw Angel-A tonight. I liked it more than Lucy, even if they are different sorts of movies. Though that movie involved an angel, nothing about it jarred by suspension of disbelief like Lucy did. I'm convinced if the 10% stuff was removed I would have liked Lucy more.
Also, I ended up unintentionally watching two Luc Besson movies in two days, as I saw Angel-A tonight. I liked it more than Lucy, even if they are different sorts of movies. Though that movie involved an angel, nothing about it jarred by suspension of disbelief like Lucy did. I'm convinced if the 10% stuff was removed I would have liked Lucy more.
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
I saw this yesterday. I wanted to see Planet of the Apes, my gf wanted to see Lucy, so we flipped a quarter and she won.
And we both lost.
We both really liked the first half of the movie, even maybe the first 2/3 of it, but the final act just really ruined the pace or something. I mean the crappy science really bothered me to begin with, but eh it's a movie so I pushed my disdain aside and enjoyed it for what it was: a thin pseudo science action flick. But the final act just seemed forced, rushed, unsatisfying, and then man how it ends with that super cheesy line, well that really pissed us both off. I feel like if they could just have re-written the end to be better and more fulfilling it would have helped the entire movie be better. As it is I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, unless you just want to watch Scarlett for 82 minutes on the big screen. But then I'd suggest you just watch anything else she's ever been in.
3 out of 10 for me. The ending just really ruined it for me.
And we both lost.
We both really liked the first half of the movie, even maybe the first 2/3 of it, but the final act just really ruined the pace or something. I mean the crappy science really bothered me to begin with, but eh it's a movie so I pushed my disdain aside and enjoyed it for what it was: a thin pseudo science action flick. But the final act just seemed forced, rushed, unsatisfying, and then man how it ends with that super cheesy line, well that really pissed us both off. I feel like if they could just have re-written the end to be better and more fulfilling it would have helped the entire movie be better. As it is I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, unless you just want to watch Scarlett for 82 minutes on the big screen. But then I'd suggest you just watch anything else she's ever been in.
3 out of 10 for me. The ending just really ruined it for me.
Scarlett Johansson is Neo
It was... ok. I mean the end was Whaaaaa? But it was ok as a semi-action sci-fi flick with ... wait why can she do that?
Actually I think one of the best parts was:
All that said when it's out on netflix or whatever I want to watch again when she has her exposition with Morgan Freemen. I couldn't even catch everything she was trying to say.
It was... ok. I mean the end was Whaaaaa? But it was ok as a semi-action sci-fi flick with ... wait why can she do that?
Actually I think one of the best parts was:
When she goes back in time (WHAT?) and sees what I assume is the Australopithecus version of Lucy. Which by the way my understanding is although it's a hominid it might be a side branch and not a direct decedent of homo sapiens. ANYWAY, i thought they did it really well. It looked cool.
All that said when it's out on netflix or whatever I want to watch again when she has her exposition with Morgan Freemen. I couldn't even catch everything she was trying to say.
RedNumberFive
Banned
Fun movie. It's too bad that the trailer gives away almost the whole movie.
So you can't imagine TK?
PlayALLtheGames
Banned
Dude, it has been explained a million times in this thread. All that other stuff is fiction based on fiction. This movie is fiction attempting to be based on a fact that we know 100% is untrue.
I don't get why this distinction is so hard to understand.
Pyramid head
Banned
Just watched the trailer and I don't think I get it. Is the implication that if we were all smarter, we'd be shapeshifting and controlling time?
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