LUCY: Enjoyable mash-up of chaotic Creative Junk & high-on intellectual trash! [2.5/5]

Human Brain has endless possibilities and a kind of galaxy of information that make us better and more sensible than any other living souls on this planet. But if Newton could push his to unravel the mystery of gravity after the ‘apple’ effect or the Wright brothers could manage to pull out their aeronautical inventions; trust me, they all were using just 10% of their mind. Naturally, we the average people don’t even hit that level. Now think, if mere 10% can make someone a Newton or Leonardo Da Vinci or Aryabhatta, what magical excellence a 100% would produce? LUCY, I say and that’s the cynicism one develops while watching Luc Besson’s science-fiction thriller LUCY. Trying to sound multifaceted, intricate and advanced like THE TREE OF LIFE and look slick-pacy & pulsating as LA FEMME NIKITA, LUCY actually ends up in being not more than a chaotic creative junk mixed with high-on intellectual trash.

Lucy, played by the ever-startling Scarlett Johansson gets in trap of a Korean mob during an involuntary drug delivery mess. Soon, she finds herself as one of the human drug carriers with a pack of highly synthetic CPH4 powder positioned in their lower abdomen in a surgical operation. Much before she could be transported to her planned destination, an unwanted brawl lends her in a serious problem or magical transformation in disguise. The pack gets burst and now the invincible chemical reactions start stimulating human mental powers to reach its maximum. No wonder, Lucy is now a superwoman who needs to walk the path of retribution and revolution, later!

From the very speedy time-lapse shots to the earth evolution theory getting reproduced on screen with amazing visuals, LUCY at places looks a distant cousin to THE TREE OF LIFE, though the depth and connect go missing at large. But if it is not into its National Geographic Mode, it is sure a thriller that never loses the steam. Monologues by Morgan Freeman, playing a neurology expert scientist talking about magical capabilities of a human mind and how evolution can become revolution followed by the same getting applied on Lucy’s situation is nicely interwoven. With just a 90 minute of duration, this is in fact too much jam-packed in one box. Film doesn’t think much before slipping and swapping genres of all kinds. At one if it joins the league of science-fiction, minutes later you will find it covered as a regular Hollywood action-thriller. No wonder, you don’t really feel like connected to any.

Having said that, it is not an unwatchable film at all! Scarlett Johansson alone is capable of pulling it off for the most, her earlier performance in HER shouts out loud to prove the point. Morgan Freeman is as usual extremely sincere and charismatic, one of my favorites. Besides, the visual effects are never involved and incomprehensible like we see in most of Hollywood’s regular Friday flicks but simplified or I would say over-simplified. Film’s action sequences are average. Drama is almost overshadowed by the cerebral investigations and research theories. I doubt if even Luc Besson had his share of 10% implied on this film. This is not a piece of information you would like to keep in your mind but having a good time with it, is completely different. Watch out for Ms. Johansson! [2.5/5]

NOAH: A fiction of faith that entertains...and takes it seriously too! [3.5/5]

What can be more mystical, magical and awe-inspiring than the miracles of nature itself? Nothing else but the vast ocean of human emotions and the subject matter of a phenomenon called life. Darren Aronofsky’s NOAH tries to paint and picture both in a balanced manner but not without gluttony of having great time at powerful visual-effects machines for creating an alienated world of absolute faith, belief and trust any religious foundation advocates.

In an evocative dream, Noah [Played brilliantly by Russell Crowe] foresees hints of massive destruction of the world and civilization and that he is the chosen one to save some of it in order to re-start the course of action for evolution soon after. Though the evil forces don’t look much trouble in shaking up his conviction, it’s his own beliefs and values that drive him to a point where he doesn’t even blink from taking up dagger against his owns.        

Taken from the famous biblical tale of Noah building an enormous ark to save creatures of every kind in the animal kingdom from the anticipated catastrophic flood, Darren Aronofsky doesn’t leave any stone unturned to make an all entertaining disaster movie packed with overpowering visuals mixed well with top-notch performances. So, when Noah with his family encounters the Watchers, angles once sent from heaven to help humankind, you couldn’t stop yourself from seeking comparisons between them and the new-age transformers. They look more like the stoned version of the metallic giants. In one of the most breathtaking sequences in the film, Aronofsky produces the fast-motion evolution scene from the origin of life to the present form of human race. This could be well-described as an ode to Terrence Mallick’s THE TREE OF LIFE. Magnificently done!

Apart from giving the impression of being a larger than life story mainly in its visual grandeur, NOAH also strives to take the very humane emotional path in subduing the stature of Noah to a man of responsibilities. From a God fearing believer to much caring family man, the transition is smooth, subtle and almost blurred. Credit needs to go to Russell for an absolute believable performance. Jennifer Connelly supports him well as his wife standing by him in all. Watch her exploding in emotions when Noah makes him mind up to end human race with them as it’s perhaps the only way to protect God’s most astounding creation from being tarnished with sins only found and dwelled in humankind. In a special appearance, Anthony Hopkins lights up each frame he’s in. Emma Watson as Noah’s adopted daughter and the life partner of his eldest son Shem gets a good meaty role to shine and impress.

At the end, it is a mythological fiction of faith that not only strikes much to entertain but also takes itself seriously too. [3.5/5]