Learned professor Morgan Freeman explains that there is a huge part of the brain that humans are not using — perhaps best evidenced by the junky cinematic fare we thoughtlessly shovel in there. And, yes, you'll need only a fraction of your noggin to take in Luc Besson's sci-fi actioner, but it's a kicky thrill ride that should light up a few pleasure centers in your gray matter.
After a drug deal goes bad, Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) finds her body processing a chemical that will bring her brain up to 100 percent functionality. Just what she needs to track down the bad guys and kick their asses. Actually, at somewhere around 40 percent, Lucy can re-arrange matter, which means she can ass-kick with just her mind. She also tracks down Freeman, and the two of them enjoy mutually beneficial rounds of pseudo-science. ("I'm colonizing my own brain," she tells him. Sounds ... um ... fun!)
Lucy is a lean 90 minutes, fast-paced and with no extraneous subplots. Just one gal, one sage adviser, a seemingly unlimited number of Asian drug thugs and one seriously super-charged and angry brain. Bring it.
