For me, Scarlett Johansson will forever be associated with Lost in Translation, her heartbreaking turn in Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story, but she's also a bonafide action star. You just need to see her kicking ass as Black Widow for proof, and a movie coming to Amazon Prime Video see's her finally given the superpowers Black Widow's fellow Avengers have.
Lucy arrives on the streaming service on March 16th. Directed by Luc Besson, the man behind The Fifth Element, you should have a clue that this isn't going to be a straightforward action flick.
Johansson plays the title character, a young woman studying in Taipei with a boyfriend who is bad news. But he's beyond just not doing the dishes or owning a motorbike/ He pressures her into a drug smuggling ring - a serious red flag.
With a bag of mysterious drugs sewn into her stomach, she's sent on a mission to Europe, but an accident leads her to consume the goods. The result? She gains some serious superpowers, loses all emotions and becomes a one-woman revenge mission.
Ok, technically they aren't superpowers, she's actually just using her full brain function (think Limitless) but what else would you call telekinesis, immunity to pain and the ability to stop time? Desperate for answers, she reaches out to renowned scientist Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman) for help.
Don't expect to breathe for pretty much the first two-thirds of this movie. As soon as she ingests the drugs, Lucy becomes a relentless killing machine. Things start to get even more unusual later on, but no spoilers. It's a wild ride with relentless action for most of the 90-minute runtime, and I'm ok with that, nothing irritates me more than a three-hour movie that could have been half as long. Good writers are always taught to start the story as late as possible and end it as early as possible.
If you want something a bit more intellectual than cliche action flicks, Lucy is a solid pick. It may have divided critics with a 69% Rotten Tomatoes rating, but it is a unique enough movie to be worth your time and ScarJo is a master of the trade. If you want something a little less intense, Prime Video recently added one of my favourite movies, Lady Bird.
