Miss O 1 and Miss O 2 and I don’t often get “girl time” together. When we all liked the ads on TV for the movie “Lucy” I invited them to some mother and daughter movie time. I am very interested in the scientific debate about how much of our brain we really use and loved the concept of a strong woman staring down the baddies, thinking it would be good for the girls, so off we went. The director, Luc Besson, has a track record of strong female characters.

The start of the movie is pretty good. Suspense is built up well in the opening scenes, although why Lucy was dating a creep is beyond me. Girl lesson number 1 – don’t date creeps!

I have read some reviews expressing disbelief at the underlying concept of humans using 100% of our brain capacity but personally I think it is a very interesting question. According to Scientific American, we do use much more than the oft cited 10%.

“It turns out though, that we use virtually every part of the brain, and that [most of] the brain is active almost all the time,” Gordon adds. “Let’s put it this way: the brain represents three percent of the body’s weight and uses 20 percent of the body’s energy.”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-people-only-use-10-percent-of-their-brains/

The ABC (Australia) actually did a Fact Check on the question of our brain usage specifically due to this movie.

Experts Fact Check spoke to agree that there is potential to train the human brain to learn new skills and ideas but the idea that we only use 10 per cent of our brain capacity is, like the film Lucy, pure fiction.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-11/do-we-only-use-10-per-cent-of-our-brains/5648810

Maybe the story line would have been improved if it postulated humans being able to control 100% of their brain function, but the concept presented was fine given the longstanding belief. It is sci-fi, after all.

A co-worker had seen the movie and while he enjoyed it, he felt it was a bit like Elysium: great concept that perhaps didn’t deliver on screen as well as it could have. In my view it was as if they got half-way through and lost motivation. I was also left with one question I couldn’t answer: what if all seven billion of us had 100% of our brains available to us as depicted?

One thing about the movie I found difficult was the imagery attempting to illustrate the internal cell transformation in a cinematographic way. I found it distracting and felt I was watching a high speed lava lamp or some of those psychedelic visuals we had before music videos became so easily accessible. While the concept was workable, those scenes were too long. Mind you, most of today’s audience would have no recollection of lava lamps or music visuals!

The reviews I have read are mixed. Some reviewers like it, some hate it, some are a bit like me.

Why Lucy only had 24 hours to live was never really answered. Yes, her cells were multiplying, but why  the drastically shortened life span? The drug being something that mothers produce during pregnancy didn’t really answer that question. Maybe I missed something.

The movie was fun, but a bit strange. It might have benefited from a bit more detail in certain parts. Worth seeing? Yes, if you are a sci-fi fan and don’t ask too many questions of the plot!

Scarlett Johansson was great. I can see her giving Angelina Jolie a run for her money in the tough women with killer looks genre! Her switch from the ditsy student to serious brainiac was very good. The baddies were very good baddies. I liked the touch of the cucumber eye compresses while being tattooed. The ending? Let me know what you think!

 The rating was a little over the top, I think. I wouldn’t take an eight year-old to see it, but I think a twelve year-old under adult supervision would be fine. It does have some rather gruesome bits. Loved Lucy’s treatment of the drug lord, but wish she’d got the English drug lord too.

We saw the trailer for “The Equalizer”. I think Mr O and I might go to see that one.