Lucy

Lucy - Dir. Luc Besson (2014)

Say what you will about Luc Besson, but he's one of the few filmmakers who has regularly showcased strong female protagonists. From a waifish Natalie Portman in The Professional to Anne Paurillaud's street urchin turned assassin in La Femme Nikita to the genetically superior Leeloo in The Fifth Element, Besson has a strong track record even if he's become a one man factory churning out cinematic junk food. His latest work stars Scarlett Johansson, who has become a bankable action heroine thanks to her portrayal of Marvel's Black Widow. Interestingly enough, Marvel has yet to capitalize on her popularity by giving the Widow her own solo picture. Other studios aren't as hesitant, DreamWorks has snatched ScarJo up to headline their live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell while the box office success of Lucy further cemented her star status.

Besson has so much fun with the concept of Lucy that it doesn't matter to him in the slightest that it's built on a complete fallacy. His screenplay hinges entirely on the myth that human beings only use ten percent of their brain. Ten percent is about all you need to enjoy this one.

Johansson is the eponymous Lucy, a gorgeous American studying abroad in Taipei, Taiwan. Her sleazy boyfriend ropes her into delivering a suitcase to a Korean gangster by the name of Mr. Jang (Choi Min-sik). Next thing you know, the boyfriend is dead and Lucy is forced to become a drug mule. The suitcase contained pouches of an experimental drug called CPH4, one of which is sewn into her stomach. If that weren't enough, a particularly volatile henchman repeatedly kicks Lucy in the gut causing the drugs to leak into her body.

Rather than overdose, Lucy gains increased intelligence and enhanced reflexes, which allow her to quickly dispatch her captors. As she accesses more of her higher brain functions, Lucy gains further abilities including telekinesis, telepathy, and the power to travel through time and space. She has no qualms in shooting a surgery patient because he wouldn't have survived anyway. Lucy also needs to inject the rest of the CPH4 as her body begins to lose molecular cohesion.

Considering how ludicrous Lucy gets, it makes absolute sense for Besson to cast Morgan Freeman as Professor Exposition. Okay, his character's actual name is Samuel Norman, but his sole purpose of being is to explain Besson's shaky science with some semblance of credibility. Sometimes that means positing the theory that dolphins access more of their brains to gain the ability of sonar. Also along for the ride is Amr Waked as a French police officer assisting Lucy in rounding up the drug dealers. There's not much to his character though it's cool to note Waked got the call from Besson while he was hip deep in the Egyptian protests of 2013. The ethnically diverse ensemble is complete by the always entertaining Choi Min-sik, best known for his intense performance in Park Chan-wook's Oldboy.

The role of Lucy suits Johansson well and it's one that is a wild departure from her more critically acclaimed turn in Under the Skin. Although both are steeped in science fiction, Under the Skin is about an alien trying to understand humanity while Lucy is about a woman slowly losing her humanity as she evolves. Besson helpfully keeps track of Lucy's power with intermittent percentages. Perhaps, an energy meter out of a Nintendo game would have been more visually interesting. Either way, the film drops any dramatic tension as Lucy edges closer to omnipotence. When she can render a roomful of men unconscious with a wave of her hand, what danger do a bunch of mobsters with machine guns pose?

Bonkers is the best way to describe Lucy, a movie that goes from shootouts and car chases to a wacky amalgamation of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Akira. Throw in a healthy dose of Luc Besson's pseudo-philosophy an hour and a half of dumb, Euro-trash fun.

Rating: ** ½ (*****)

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - Dir. Lasse Hallstrom (2012)

Judging by the title, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen sounds about as exciting as a film called Paint Drying on the Wall. It's not nearly that tedious, but the movie did surprise many by scoring a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture in the Comedy or Musical category. Call it this year's The Tourist in that nobody saw it coming.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is based on a novel by Paul Torday that served as political satire. Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, who also penned The Full Monty, Slumdog Millionaire, and 127 Hours, turns the more of a story about the indomitable human spirit. Director Lasse Hallstrom gives Salmon Fishing a quaint romantic sheen that puts it in line with some of his previous pictures like The Cider House Rules and Chocolat.

The wealthy Sheikh Muhammed (Amr Waked) is a fly fishing aficionado who desires to bring the joys of salmon to the Yemeni desert. The Sheikh's financial advisor Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt) consults with fisheries expert Dr. Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor), who dismisses the idea as wholly unfeasible. However, the Prime Minister's Press Secretary, Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas), sees the project as a feel-good story to divert the public's attention from the constant stories of war and violence from the Middle East. Dr. Jones reluctantly acquiesces and soon discovers the Sheikh isn't the frivolous one-percenter he assumed.

Salmon Fishing works best when it focuses on the central story and the budding relationship between the leads. It's refreshing to see McGregor use his natural Scottish accent in his portrayal of an uptight scientist in the vein of Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby. 2012 was a banner year for Emily Blunt and although this was one of her lesser works (she was better in Looper and Your Sister's Sister), she's wonderful here. Kristin Scott Thomas is terrific as the forceful Patricia Maxwell, one of the few holdovers from the novel's original satirical bent though the character was male in the book. Thomas plays like she just sprung from the mind of Armando Ianucci. Amr Waked, who bares a strong resemblance to a young Ben Kingsley, serves as the heart of the movie and it's always nice to see a Middle Eastern actor play somebody other than a terrorist.

Unfortunately, Beaufoy overstuffs the script with too many subplots that complicate what should have been a simple romance. Jones is in a loveless marriage with a workaholic who is almost never home while Harriet has a boyfriend who is deployed in Afghanistan. The Sheikh's project is threatened by fanatical fundamentalists, which is at odds with the film's lightweight tone. What's more interesting is the finagling done to realize the Sheikh's wild dream. The engineers behind the Three Gorges Dam are called in to help design the dam and irrigation system. 10,000 salmon are needed to populate the newly created river, but depleting England's stock upsets the fishing industry. Thus, farmed salmon are used without knowing whether they will swim upstream like their brethren.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is the sort of safe and conservative arthouse fare that old folks enjoy. It's a pleasant, but listless experience that could have used a more whimsical and energetic touch.

Rating: ** (*****)