Infinity Wars

Infinity Wars

I was skeptical that this movie would work. With the confluence of super heroes there were too many egos to manage. But the narrative worked and this was the glue that kept this movie together. The story shifted from different scenes and different battles but you could follow the connections.

There are too many super heroes to mention, but some featured more than others. Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy had more leading roles. On one level the story is simple. The bad guy, Thanos, wants to collect the six mythical stones giving him tremendous power threatening the universe. Each stone is in a different location in the galaxy, including earth, and this is where the battles take place. Thanos is played by a computer generated avatar of Josh Brolin, nearly unrecognizable except for his voice. The movie does not take itself too seriously, with banter and good natured jabs contributing to the movie’s enjoyment. The film ties in prior movies giving it recognizable reference points.

The special effects were of course amazing. They had to be to maintain the nearly three hours attention span needed to watch the film. Honestly, it did not feel like three hours because the movie was well paced. The production budget is between $300m-$400m meaning they have to clear about $1b in box office to make a profit. I attended the 9:30 am Imax show and the theater was nearly full.

As for the ending, I am not even going to talk about the ending. When I got up to leave I noticed no one else was leaving. So I sat through the credits. There were so many credits it turned the screen white. The reward was coming attractions, albeit quite short but they portend a sequel.

For fan boys and fan girls a must see. For you civilians you could do worse.

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?