Lucy: The Discussion Continues

Brent and Nick break down Luc Besson's latest.

By Brent McKnight | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

LucyHow Does Lucy Fit Into Johansson’s Career?

Brent: I have generally mixed feelings on her career, to be honest, it really varies project to project. I liked her in movies like Ghost World, and a few others (I hated Lost in Translation). I wouldn’t go see a movie just because she’s in it, but I wouldn’t sit one out either.

Though I’ve warmed to her more lately, in large part due to the evolution of Black Widow. Initially I really disliked the character, and her performance in Iron Man 2. She was boring and didn’t have a lot going on, and though I’ve read Black Widow comics for years, none of that carried over to the movie. That all changed, however, with what she did in The Avengers, working with Joss Whedon. All of a sudden you’re like, “Holy shit, this character is amazing,” and that continues into Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

If nothing else, I really like the wide variety she consistently brings to her career choices. She’ll do big blockbuster Marvel movies, but then turn around and so little indie things that no one will see, like Under the Skin, and be really good in both. And I love that people are going to walk into Lucy thinking it’s a Scarlett Johansson action movie, only to get some crazy nonsense flung in their faces.

To me, Lucy feels like a big star doing something that was fun as shit, primarily because she knew going it that it was going to be fun as shit.

Her performance isn’t spectacular. She does as good a job with what’s here as she can, but the smarter she gets, the more reserved, cold, and emotionless she becomes. When the character is supposed to be flat and removed, it’s hard to bring a lot of nuance to a performance. Even with the action there’s not much asked of her. Eventually, as her brain expands, she doesn’t even have to fight anyone, she just stands back and flings people around like she’s a Jedi using the Force.

Nick: It’s hard because this is not entirely an action movie, and it isn’t entirely Johansson’s movie, since she becomes an all-powerful robot when she’s zooming along on her weird drug run. I like her in most things, even if I don’t like the movie she’s in, and she’s probably as good here as one could hope. But Besson has pretty much nailed casting in all of his movies anyway.


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