LUCY

Cert 15.

89 mins.

Action/Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Thriller.

Starring Starring Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Pilou Asbaek, Amr Waked, Julian Rhind-Tutt.

CAREFREE American student Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is enjoying her new life in Taiwan until her boyfriend Richard (Pilou Asbaek) forcibly persuades her to deliver a briefcase on his behalf.

The recipient turns out to be sadistic Korean mob boss and drug lord Mr Jang (Choi Min-sik). He knocks Lucy unconscious and when she awakes, the terrified twenty-something discovers the mob has surgically implanted a deadly blue drug called CPH4 in her abdomen and she is being press-ganged into working as their mule.

The bright blue crystals leak into Lucy’s system, endowing her with superhuman abilities such as telepathy and telekinesis.

Unfortunately, the CPH4 also ravages her body, so with the clock ticking until she literally disintegrates, Lucy seeks help from Professor Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman) in Paris.

His decades of research into the hidden potential of the human brain might prove her salvation.

Directed at a breathless pace by Luc Besson, Lucy was one of the biggest hits at the box office in 2014. The profusion of eye-popping action sequences and acrobatic fights certainly holds our attention, but the convoluted plot loses its flimsy grasp on neurological theory and credibility well before the sprightly 89 minutes are up.

Indeed, the slam-bang finale is just as mind-boggling for us as it is for the eminent scientists caught in the whirl of digital effects.

Johansson copes with the rigours of her role with aplomb, although it’s slightly less gung-ho than her assassin alter ego in The Avengers saga. Besson indulges his penchant for wanton carnage in every glossy frame.