Lucy with Scarlett Johannson (wholly crap)

I like most of Luc Besson's work and this was one of the only movies besides GotG that I'm looking forward to this summer, but it turned out to be the worst movies I've seen in a very long time. Instead of just giving Scarlett Johannson superpowers and moving straight to the action, most of the movie is wasted on trying to explain the plot as if anything in it is remotely true. What little action there is is terrible too.

Don't let the almost-not-rotten score fool you, this is not a movie you should even consider going to the theater for. I'd give it a 4/10 and that's probably being too generous.

khorum_sl said:

A few years ago I read an interview with a screenwriter who was considering a botched retroviral autism cure as the basis for some kind of mind-expanding revolution... he got into the weeds with blood-brain barrier permeability so the producers eventually went with a radioactive bug bite to secure a potential 0.00003% boost in ticket sales. It's much easier to do CGI bugbites.

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Make it a gene therapy instead of retrovirus and conjugate the plasmid to rabies virus glycoprotein (RVG).

I wish all these Hollywood writers would just come to me for their solutions...

If you could spec out a process that would make great cinema they WOULD be going to you. Fact is you can't make an exciting film that hinges on CG mitochondria doing battle... you could have Scarjo riding a mecha polarbear topless but the minute she says "organelles" you'll have ppl demanding refunds on their Imax tickets.

You'd have better luck making a movie about a genius biochemist who gave up curing cancer because Pfizer wanted to win the boner pill market. At least then you might end up on netflix.

khorum_sl said:

Fact is you can't make an exciting film that hinges on CG mitochondria doing battle

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What about aFantastic Voyageremake?

It's not rocket science, just make it a clip montage during the intro of the movie. Quick cuts for short attention spans, take artistic liberties, leave out details, but don't insult the audiences' intelligence.

Movie Starts

Morgan Freeman narration says a new gene therapy was developed for autism but it must be invasive injected into the brain directly (Don't even need to explain blood barrier)
-Clip of spaced out spastic autistic looking kid getting an invasive injection into brain.
-Zoom into brain cell level with a CGI clip and show what looks like DNA leaving the needle and entering the cells. Then show it causing some morphological change in the cells.
-Zoom out (maybe focus on pupil) and show kid instantly the kid stops spazzing out (aligns with a lot recent docs on NOVA, etc. about stopping seizures using drugs/electrotherapy.)

Narration explains that this technique holds the potential to cure all forms of autism, but a less invasive technique must be developed. "Scaryname Pharmaceutical" thought they had the solution.
-clip shows "Scaryname Pharmaceutical" logo

Narration explains rabies viruses ability to attack the brain directly, scientists were able to to piggy back in the treatment using the virus. The narrator suggest the hope of autism being theoretically cured through a simple nasal mist
-Show a clip of of foaming mouth rabid monkey getting blood drawn
-CGI clip of it zooming into the blood flask to show the virus
-Show a sterile lab with researchers doing stuff, zoom into a test tube and see the virus being broken down and the same DNA looking stuff from the first clip attaching to a piece of the virus. Maybe make the molecule change color to blue or some nonsense indicate to the audience "oh, magic cure"

Narration explains that the combination had unintended consequences...
-Start the movie

You could knock the whole background story out in a minute and a half while maintaining the audiences interest AND getting a prime time spot on NPR All Things Considered and do AMA's on Reddit to tout the movie for its "scientific authenticity".

Science fiction is suppose to take current science and put a fictional twist on it. Not take a urban legend that even middle school students know to be false and put a twist on it.

Vorph_sl said:

I like most of Luc Besson's work and this was one of the only movies besides GotG that I'm looking forward to this summer, but it turned out to be the worst movies I've seen in a very long time. Instead of just giving Scarlett Johannson superpowers and moving straight to the action, most of the movie is wasted on trying to explain the plot as if anything in it is remotely true. What little action there is is terrible too.

Don't let the almost-not-rotten score fool you, this is not a movie you should even consider going to the theater for. I'd give it a 4/10 and that's probably being too generous.

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Well to be fair sense when have super powers been anywhere near believable? Any form of explanation is utter bs and being upset that it doesnt make sense is kinda silly. I agree however that it wasted alot of time actually trying to explain what was going on with her but its all make believe.

So, listening to you folks complain, I take it this is supposed to be a documentary?

Sheesh, people.

Suspension of disbelief - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Read that article Grim posted. Movie seems like pure dogshit top to bottom.

Vvoid_sl said:

We're not the target audience though. Half the people I work with are complete idiots, and most seem eager to see this. The guy I share an office with doesn't know how to say the word "saw" (as in, "I seen a movie this weekend") and he thinks this movie looks great. I told him that the 10% brain thing was bullshit, and his eyes just glazed over. He initially told me that Prometheus was one of the best sci-fi movies he's ever seen, until I ripped it apart, and he said he was just joking. Now I play along with his opinions until I'm sure he's committed. But then I feel bad if I hated it, so I just stay quiet now. I already know he's simple-minded, so why rub his face in it?

We're the outliers, for the most part. The rest of humanity is, unfortunately, at least half retarded. That's why movies like this get made.

P.S. Haven't seen it yet, and won't until a bluray rip comes out.

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At this point scarjo really needs to start showing her tits, ass, and vag

Tarrant_sl said:

Movie was entertaining I thought. Who gives a shit if the 10% brain thing isn't an actual thing.

Know what else isn't an actual thing? The events of this movie and 99% of other movies. It was entertaining and that's all that matters to me. -shrug-

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What was entertaining about it? From the reviews and accounts I read it's mind-numbingly stupid and clich?. I'm genuinely curious, especially since you summed it up as "entertaining". Good acting? Great action? Comedy scenes? What stood out? Watching monkeys throw shit at each other is entertaining for some folks, but doesn't mean I want to watch it.

Tarrant_sl said:

I thought the plot was pretty okay, it was never really boring so it didn't cause me to lose interest. There was some bad dialog here and there and a couple "....really?" moments but all in all it was paced well, I liked the creative routes they went with some of it and it was cheesy, which is good with movies like this imo.

I mean it's not the best movie ever, it's not even the best movie I've seen this week but it wasn't bad. Like I said, it kept my interest and thus was entertaining to me. I'd give it a 5.5 or 6 out of 10.

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Thanks. Wanted to see this, then the commercials and reviews nearly killed it for me. So wanted to hear from someone who actually liked it first.

Saw this and Hercules today. This was better. Both were not too impressive however.

Tarisk_sl said:

Saw this and Hercules today. This was better. Both were not too impressive however.

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Yeah, I'd imagine Hercules requires a greater suspension of belief. I like the Rock, but I can't imagine a Hawaiian playing an insane drunk Greek demigod.

Jait_sl said:

What was entertaining about it? From the reviews and accounts I read it's mind-numbingly stupid and clich?. I'm genuinely curious, especially since you summed it up as "entertaining". Good acting? Great action? Comedy scenes? What stood out? Watching monkeys throw shit at each other is entertaining for some folks, but doesn't mean I want to watch it.

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The first third or so of the movie is pretty good. Then she hits 30% brain power and starts talking to Morgan Freeman and it goes right into the shitter. There is very little action, and what there is is basically just Lucy with her I-WIN button. There's pretty much no choreographed fights, almost all the shooting doesn't even involve Lucy, and even the car, uh, sequence (can't call it a chase) is repetitive and boring. Everything one would expect in a R-rated summer action movie by Luc Besson simply is not there.

There's very little humor in the movie. Acting? I guess Scarlett was alright. Min-Sik Choi was utterly wasted in his role. Morgan Freeman too, really. They could have gotten anyone to drone on about fake science for far too long.

And to be clear, I don't care that the 10% brain thing is a complete myth. My beef with it is that they spend about a half an hour total TALKING about it. Most action movies that deal with superhuman stuff have the good sense to keep the "science" as vague as possible.

Well, that sucks. I was waiting to hear from fans, because you can't trust reviews with the guy. He knows how to make a good story translate to the big screen and above all else be fun. Huge fan of most of his work except the kids stuff.

It was entertaining enough. Pretty cheesy as others have mentioned already, but still fun to watch. Logic goes out the window around the halfway point. Was waiting for her to join up with Johnny Depp by the end.