Lucy - Movie Review

How much I recommend it: 8/10

Lucy is a sci-fi thriller in which the main character (played by Scarlett Johansson) overdoses on a drug which causes her brain to work at max capacity and gives her all sorts of incredible abilities. In that sense, it had some similarities to the movie Limitless.

The bad guy is a Korean guy named Mr. Jang who has developed a synthetic version of CPH4 (I have no idea if there is any real science to this movie but that is the name of the molecule). He is using Lucy and some others as involuntary drug mules to get them into other countries with bags of the drug sewn into their abdomens.

The bag that Lucy is carrying breaks and the drug spills into her bloodstream causing her to gain unusual cognitive abilities - like learning to read and speak Chinese within the course of a single cab ride.

Concurrently, there is another story playing out. A university professor, played by Morgan Freeman, is teaching a class on the history of humanity. He is talking about the intelligence of different species and how one of the things that sets humans apart is that we’re able to use 10% of our brain capacity while other creatures use far less.

As the movie progresses, there are moments where a big percentage flashes on the screen indicating how much of Lucy’s brain capacity is unlocked. As she passes 30% - as more the drug gets into her system - crazy things start happening like she remembers everything that has ever happened to her, every feeling, everything she has ever learned. Then she starts seeing energy like cell phone signals and the energy flowing through roots of trees.

Eventually, she takes a heroic dose of all the remaining CPH4 and morphs into a supercomputer of sorts, sacrificing herself in the process. In her final moment, she hands Morgan Freeman a USB drive and then she disintegrates.

The movie ends there but it leaves you wondering, what could have been on that drive?

Reflections

While it was an over-the-top film - which I normally don’t enjoy - I liked this one a lot.

And I liked it for the same reason I liked Limitless when I saw it probably a decade ago.

I like thinking about the possibility of the human brain.

What if it’s true that we are only using a small percentage of our brain?

If all the tech and systems and things we’ve collectively invented have come from our limited brains, what would happen if we somehow ‘unlocked’ it?

Are there ways to unlock just a small portion more of our cognitive capabilities? And if so, what would that look like?