Lucy

For several years an on-going series was posted on this site called "Flashback! Bad Movies That Haunt Me." The bit generally involved me ripping on some movie I saw as a kid that was so poorly made that I remembered the badness as a result.

Is there a statute of limitations on the number of years before I can add Lucy to that list?

Luc Besson's flick begins with promise. Scarlett Johansson in the lead role is a huge get. Add a plot involving an international drug ring, plan to tell the story with interesting imagery, and sign mega-star Morgan Freeman to co-star and you might expect producers to sit back and rake in the cash and critical praise.

The problem is, Lucy doesn't deliver on its promise.

Freeman -- once an actor's actor who delivered masterful supporting performances -- is used in such a deeply peripheral role he hardly seems connected at all to the movie. The drug ring portion of the plot has no substance after the first half of the flick. And the imagery --especially the quick shot of a mouse about to be captured in a mousetrap -- comes across more pretentious than interesting.


The audience is told over and over again that we humans use only about 10% of our brain capacity. (The 10% bit isn't true science, but it's an important MacGuffin for this plot.) After watching Lucy, however, I'm afraid my brain capacity may have significantly diminished.