I can't believe there's another movie about technology making a person all-powerful by harnessing the power of the mind. I already complained about Transcendence, where Johnny Depp is uploaded into a computer, watched over by Morgan Freeman. And now there's Lucy, where Scarlett Johansson is given a drug to let here use all of her brain, watched over by Morgan Freeman. So apparently this is Freeman's latest typecasting: providing exposition when someone becomes an superhuman ultramind. How many character ruts has he been in now? Grizzled detective investigating a serial-killer, thoughtful supporting character giving the star life advice, God, narrator.
And what's with having the hottest actors play the supermind characters? I know, that will sell tickets. And it makes sense that if you have a technology that gives someone great mental powers, you might as well use it on someone who's already above-average in other areas. But still, using attractive people in a movie about minds seems like casting porn based on intelligence.
It's also directed by Luc Besson, who has made a bunch of movies with strong female protagonists (La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element, Colombiana, and a Joan of Arc film.) So I'd love to hear a Freudian interpretation of that. Put him together with Joss Whedon and they might finally get a Wonder Woman movie made.
But what really bothers me about Lucy and its carpet-bomb advertising, is that it perpetuates the myth that we only use 10% of our brains. It's an especially frustrating misconception, since it likely began with psychologist William James complaining that people don't use their brains. So in a sense, it his remark proves itself. And now that it's been hammered into our heads by a Hollywood marketing campaign, we'll never be rid of it. For all the interesting science and technology in the world, they have to make "science"-fiction movies based on things we know to be false, and once again, you'll come out of it knowing even less.
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