Great Character: Lucy (“Lucy”)
The Great Character theme for the month: Action Heroines. Today: Lucy from the 2014 movie Lucy, written by Luc Besson. SPOILER ALERT: For those who don’t want to know key plot elements, beware as there are some below!
Screenwriter and director Luc Besson had quite an ambitious stylistic intention for his high concept 2014 summer science fiction action film:
“I have come up with a simplified summary, therefore, like a reader’s guide, which will conjure up the images in as few words as possible:
- the beginning is LEON THE PROFESSIONAL
- the middle is INCEPTION
- the end is 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
At the forefront of this mental expansion journey is the plot pusher, the female action protagonist, and our eye opener into this world of mind mastery — Lucy.
After actress Scarlett Johansson proved to be quite the action aficionado in her portrayal as Marvel Comics super heroine Black Widow in Iron Man 2, The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the blonde beauty brings anxiety, gusto and deadpan deadliness to the self-titled character Lucy. With the mind magnifying designer drug sci-fi element of Limitless hyped up inside the heavy heartbeat of a globe-trotting thriller, Lucy reminds the science fiction boys club that there will also be women in futuristic settings.
Lucy IMDB:
A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.
Stuck in a horrifying situation, Lucy finds herself handcuffed to a drug-related briefcase, forced to deliver it to a dangerous Asian drug don. Fear and forced criminal activity becomes Lucy’s reluctant reality. With the fantastical side effects of this suitcase being a drug that opens up the complete usage of Lucy’s mind after having it stashed in her abdomen for her to become a drug trafficking mule, Lucy goes from total fear to total command of mind, body and soul.
LUCY: I feel everything. Space, the air, the vibrations, the people, I can feel the gravity, I can feel the rotation of the Earth, the heat leaving my body, the blood in my veins. I can feel my brain.
Going from a captive criminal cohort to a free citizen once again requires the expansive mental transformation that occurs from the consumption of mass quantities of these powerful pills. Lucy not only fights back when sketchy rape attempts jump off, but she also pulverizes the primitive thugs that strive to detain her — no luck for them whatsoever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfRGcRkHboo
Seeing the mind mastery and special powera go to a female character in a male dominated crime world adds another layer of unexpectation. Lucy is not fighting for her life against passive, non-aggressive romantic comedy characters. This fight until the death is against sick, unsavory male killers who could care less that they shouldn’t hit a woman.
LUCY: Like this pain you’re experiencing. It’s blocking you from understanding. All you know now is pain.
Lucy shifts gears from a gripping thriller to a visual effects sci-fi spectacle, Lucy the lead character morphs from a rightfully petrified survivor to a cold, emotionless master of mind control. The more of her brain that Lucy can utilize, the less her emotions become a visible part of her character’s core external expression.
LUCY: I don’t feel pain, fear, desire. It’s like all things that make us human are fading away.
With box office success, the possibility of a Lucy sequel, and a science fiction action heroine that does the rescuing instead of screaming for help on a regular basis, Lucy is a fast-paced figure that morphs from victim to savior.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyyEXXnH_Yg
For her anti-heroine protagonist status to survive, her self-respect and her stereotype-shattering prominence and mega powers to fight back — Lucy is quite the GREAT CHARACTER in the action genre.
The movie has proved a big success, grossing $58M domestic to date and certain to hit well over $100M, maybe even twice that worldwide. A lot of the buzz about the movie is the significance of a female lead in an action role, which is certainly a justified talking point. More women action leads, please!
But on a purely storytelling level, let me zero in on this line of Lucy’s dialogue: “It’s like all things that make us human are fading away.” Lucy’s metamorphosis on the inside manifests itself on the outside, but through it all lies the fundamental question at the root of almost every movie: Who am I? Whenever we tell stories that traffic in this existential question, we are swimming in conscious and unconscious waters that flow through every single person: The issue of self-identity. Even if the question plays at a tertiary level of direct experience for the moviegoer, it is there. And because it is, it strengthens and deepens the story-watching (or script-reading) process.
Is Lucy’s change going to cause her to lose her humanity? At the end of the day, who is she? Beyond all the action and the bold science fiction conceit, there are these questions of self-identity which provide an additional point of emotional connection to the story… and Lucy’s character.
Thank you, Jason, for this post. Please join us in comments to discuss Lucy.
You may follow Jason on Twitter: @A2Jason.
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