Lucy

In “Lucy”, Scarlett Johansson’s mental capacity is expanded far beyond human limits. This plot line is nothing new to Sci Fi movies. Usually the person with the jacked up brain can levitate, stop bullets in midair, suspend time and look through people’s clothing (whoops, that’s my wish). In Lucy, Luc Besson, the director and writer, brought a fresh interpretation to this genre. Besson has directed some excellent Sci Fi and action movies such as the “Fifth Element”, “District 13”and “Nikita”. Lucy is fast paced and has a multiple plot points. There is much going on in the movie: time travel, drugs, Chinese triads, dinosaurs, scientists, the French and a sprinkling of Italians. However, this mish mash work together.

Johansson is an unwilling drug mule who after a beating is contaminated by the drugs she is carrying. This triggers her transformation to a super human. Johansson is an established dramatic actress, but of late she is also a sexy action star (The Black Widow in the Avengers). She is credible handling a gun and shows no compulsion committing mass killings. As super Lucy she walks around in a semi daze and is mechanical in delivering her lines. This is all part of her transformation. The film actually shows percentage clips indicating her mental growth (2%, 10%, 20% etc…).These sign posts are meant to heighten our expectations, but are more funny than effective.

The other leading actor is Morgan Freeman as the distinguished university professor specializing in the human brain. For the most part Freeman is the narrator explaining the power of the brain and the possibilities of expanding those limits (humans use 1% and dolphins use 2%, yeah but we have legs). When he interacts with Lucy it is with amazement as to what she can do. By the time they meet she is beyond his neurological knowledge.

The rest of the cast is multinational. The Chinese triades own the drugs and to get them back they unleash a torrent of violence. The drug lord did not speak English so he always needed an interpreter, even by phone. Seeing new international actors in familiar roles makes the movie interesting. The French cops were the good guys, but they spoke English with a Pepe Le Pew accent.  The Italians cops did not speak English but they looked really cool in their Bottega leather jackets.

Some parts of the movie were prone to excess. To give a sense of what hyper Lucy was experiencing there was a flood of images from dinosaurs to cells splitting rapidly. The terrestrial scenes looked like National Geographic on speed. As Lucy reaches higher levels of brain capacity her human form becomes unrecognizable.

I may go see it again, but where did I leave my wallet?

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

This was a very good movie. However the acting, the human acting, was not a significant contribution to the film. It was not bad, but not memorable. Even Gary Oldman, who had marquee billing, did not do much for his role. The quality elements of the movie are the script, the direction, the special effects and the CG.

The story is rich with different levels. The themes are universal and go beyond just sci-fi. There is the father/son story; alpha ape dilemma; humans versus apes’ dynamic. Survival of the fittest is the goal, but who is the fittest? Essentially the story is about prejudice and tolerance (or intolerance).

This movie is the second installment of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”. Caesar is still the alpha male leading his troop who live well in an arboreal condo, al fresco. The human population has been decimated by a simian flu, concocted in human labs. The apes are ascending and the humans putting back the pieces of their broken world. This sets the tension of the movie and makes it watchable. Do not assume who wins.

The special effects are incredible. They mastered the graphic challenges of fur, skin and the occasional tear drop, but the real achievement is how the apes interact with the human actors; their timing is seamless. With the range of emotion’s Caesar displays his acting is on par with the human actors, sans the ego. I would not be surprised if this film is nominated for an Oscar for special effects.

The movie is not all kumbaya, there are some serious battles. The CG battles are massive and impressive. It is very disconcerting to see a gorilla riding a horse.

I think a sequel has a good bet, given this film’s box office. Anyway, monkeys do work for peanuts.

Snowpiercer

Snowpiercer

This is one of the strangest scfi movie I have seen in a while. This is a South Korean scifi action film based on a French graphic novel, well that explains part of it. It is an apocalyptic film where in an attempt to reduce global warming the clouds are seeded with a chemical that catastrophically causes the earth to freeze killing everything, except the inhabitants on the train, the Snowpiercer. The train is the ark for those lucky and wretched few who survived. There is a strict caste system on the train which frames story.

This movie has its own unique climate. It takes place almost entirely in the train. It is gritty, violent with non-stop action. Tension is constant between the good guys and the bad guys. The film in part feels like Terry Giliam’s movie “Brazil” because of its bizarre nature. It does not have the ultra-violence “Of a Clock Work Orange”, but there are similarities in the brutal gang battles and cult alliances.

It has a rich cast. Chis Evans is the protagonist. He is venturing out of his comfort zone as a super hero. However, with the bread, grime and knitted cap he was hardly recognizable. His acting arch ranged between a scowl and a grimace. This is not a break out role for him but it is a few steps away from tights.

John Hurt is the senior leader of the great unwashed. Hurt delivers one of his stock character roles of a feeble sage. His acting is beyond reproach and his wrinkles continue to multiply. Ed Harris is Wilford, the inventor and keeper of the train. His performance is cold, detached and disturbing.  

Tilda Swinton is totally unrecognizable in the film, which may not be a bad thing. As a hint she has a fierce overbite and she is playing a woman, sort of. Rounding out the American crew is Octavia Spencer, she is one of the great unwashed. She gives a wonderful  Oprah impersonation from “The Color Purple” complete with girth and blown out hair.

The international crew includes Song Kang-Ho and Go Ah-sung. Song is the drug addicted electronic technician who plays a key role in the movie and Go is his mischievous out of touch daughter. The film is directed by Bong Joon-ho who is Korean. He has his own approach to fantasy and scifi. The movie gives a welcomed a new vision to an old story line.