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 Besson is known for creating strong female characters in "La
Femme Nikita" and "The Fifth Element." But he goes a step
further in "Lucy," which opens in theaters in the United States
on Friday, with an American student in Taipei who becomes
invincible after the full power of her brain is unleashed.
Scarlett Johansson ("The Avengers") is Lucy, a woman tricked by
a boyfriend into delivering a suitcase and becomes one of
several unwilling drug mules dispatched around the globe by
Asian mobsters.
After a brutal beating, the powerful synthetic compound
implanted in her stomach seeps into her body and gradually lets
her access more and more of her brain power.
"I think it is such an interesting imagination Luc has going on
there," said Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman ("Million Dollar
Baby"), who as Paris-based neurologist Professor Norman helps
Lucy cope with the startling changes in her mind and body.
Norman has been studying the brain for most of his life,
researching what would happen if humans could use more than just
10 or 20 percent of it.
"We always think and hear terms like, 'We only use 10 percent of
our brains' but did anyone ever imagine what it would be like if
you could use more? So here comes Luc imaging what could happen
if you could use more," Freeman added.
Writer/director Besson, who won France's Cesar award in 1998 for
"The Fifth Element," had been toying with the idea of making a
film about a person with super-human intelligence for a decade.
But he felt he needed to find the right balance between reality
and science fiction.
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With stunning visual effects Besson shows how Lucy's senses
are heightened and how she develops super-human powers and the
ability to control matter. As her intelligence increases, her
ability to feel emotions, empathy and pain diminish, making her
a proficient assassin.
While the impact of the drug grows, Lucy travels to Paris and
enlists the help of French police Capt. Pierre Del Rio, played
by Egyptian actor Amr Waked (Syriana), to intercept the other
drug mules.
With the Asian mobsters led by Mr. Jang, played by Korean actor
Choi Min Sik, in hot pursuit Lucy leaves a trail of destruction
as she takes Del Rio on a white-knuckle car chase through the
streets of central Paris and a crowded flea market.
While Lucy tries to channel her intelligence with the help of
Norman, French police take on the Asian mob in a gun battle at
the Sorbonne.
"With Luc Besson you have a knock-down, drag-out action film but
then you have one that also makes you feel and think," said
Freeman. "It gives a little spark to your imagination to say
'What if? What would I do? How would it be?'"
(Editing by Mary Milliken and Grant McCool)
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