Lucy is surely going to be one of the more polarising films of the year, splitting audiences as to whether it is nonsensical pseudoscience or (judging by some of the completely awed gasps I heard at the cinema) an intellectual work of genius. Unfortunately, the science here is pure drivel, allowing Lucy to act as a smart film for the not-so-smart people.

Something both camps should be in agreement about however is that Lucy looks stylish. Starring Scarlett Johansson in the titular role, the film has been directed by filmmaker Luc Besson (Léon: The Professional), who as he expressed in films such as The Fifth Element, carries a certain visual flair. This will be refreshing if you’ve been consuming a diet of Hollywood action blockbusters of late, where creativity behind the camera has become limited to the number of explosions you see on the screen.

Seems like an awful waste if humans use only 10 per cent of their brain power, a debunked theory perpetuated by the filmmaker

Lucy has also been interestingly edited by Luc Besson. The Frenchmen at times allows his scenes room to breathe, and at others cuts scenes at a breakneck speed. This doesn’t work all the time though. Like the film itself, some of the symbolism in Lucy can feel heavy-handed and pretentious. For example, when our hero is defenseless and being chased by her foes, the scenes are cut in with shots of a big cat stalking and capturing its prey. Perhaps this visual aid looked good in Luc Besson’s head, but on screen it seems as unnecessary as a no-parking sign under an erupting volcano!

It is no secret that Luc Besson has a penchant for films with a strong lead character. Here we have Lucy, a young and docile American woman living in Taiwan, who is pushed into delivering a mysterious package of drugs by her boyfriend to a Korean drug lord named Mr. Jang (Choi Min-sik). Things take a turn for the worse for Lucy when a bag of the synthetic drugs are surgically placed inside her abdomen so that she can act as a drug mule for Jang. We learn that these narcotics have been derived from a chemical given to fetuses by mothers during pregnancy said to be responsible for mental development.

As Lucy is held by Jang’s men while waiting to fly to Europe with the narcotics, she is approached by a couple of his goons. After turning down their sexual advances, she is viciously kicked in the abdomen, where the packet of drugs is ruptured; leaking the chemicals into her bloodstream.

Lucy takes great pains to convince the audience that normal human beings use only 10% of their brains, and that using a greater capacity will somehow grant people with unimaginable powers. In fact, the film cheats by having this theory repeated by actor Morgan Freeman (Professor Norman) whose deep soothing voice could frankly convince anyone of anything.

Here the drugs allow Lucy to tap a greater percentage of her brain, arming her with powers of telepathy and telekinesis. Of course, this is only the beginning, and as she utilises more of her brain, she is able to kill foes with a simple look and even travel through time. None of this deters Jang and his na maloom afraad, who kill policemen across the globe with gay abandon.

Unfortunately for fans of this film, the 10 per cent brain theory was debunked as an urban legend eons ago. Neurologists will tell you that for most human beings, almost all of the brain is active at all times. Well, perhaps not Luc Besson, who when making this film was obviously using only 10pc of his grey matter.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, September 14th, 2014