Lucy

is a hot mess of a film, one of those rare movies I just can't make up my mind about.  Some in our group found it horrible, most of us mostly enjoyed watching it, and no one loved it.  After much thought, I've come to the conclusion that Lucy is exactly what writer/director Luc Besson wanted it to be, the realization of his particular vision of the singularity--and that his vision didn't make for a very satisfying movie ending.

The film starts well, with Scarlett Johansson--and, later, others--being abducted and operated on so that they could act as drug mules carrying bags of blue crystals in their abdomens.  As the trailer shows, other bad guys hurt Johansson and break open her bag, causing the drug to leak into her system, and we're off to the singularity races.

The ensuing events range from vaguely logical--her getting smarter--to absurd--I won't spoil it for you, but the scenes on the plane come to mind--and then we're in Paris, where the plot kicks into high gear. 

With the exception of the absurd scenes, the movie more or less hangs together until we reach the conclusion, at which point Besson avoids anything resembling a satisfying ending and instead follows his vision to its logical conclusion.  I can't say you'll like the ending, because no one I know has, but I've come to respect it.  Besson went where he wanted to go, and that's kind of a cool thing.

If you're a Besson fan, a Johansson fan, or a fan of movies about the singularity, Lucy, problems notwithstanding, is a must-see.  For everyone else, if you're up for eighty percent of a good action film, you could do worse.

For me, I'm glad to have seen it, and I like that Besson followed his vision.  I just wish his vision had included a more interesting conclusion.