Lucy
Universal Pictures | Release Date: July 25, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
16
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueAdam LowesSep 20, 2023
Lucy feels like the work of a filmmaker who has recovered his mojo. Read full review
90
TimeRichard CorlissJul 26, 2014
The summer’s best, coolest, juiciest, smartest action movie. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 24, 2014
It's gleefully bold, visually adventurous, often funny, strikingly concise — the whole heart-pounding tale is over in 90 minutes — and 100% entertaining. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJul 23, 2014
It comes across, instead, as a directorial flight of fancy, an imaginatively goofy take on an already goofy idea, exaggerated by Besson’s blunt style and an uncommonly fast pace. Read full review
83
The PlaylistGabe ToroJul 23, 2014
It's basically the perfect summer movie, because it's designed to be. Read full review
80
CineVueBen NicholsonSep 5, 2014
This undeniably silly, but raucously entertaining, off-the-wall transhumanist actioner is an absolute riot. Read full review
80
Total FilmKate StablesSep 5, 2014
Besson is at his balls-out bonkers best in this genre-scrambling, mind-expanding exhilarator. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 5, 2014
It’s the blockbuster of the summer. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJul 24, 2014
Lucy is insane, makes very little sense, doesn't stand up to scrutiny and is an absolute blast. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleLouis BlackJul 23, 2014
The best comic-book movie in a long time, though based on no comic, Lucy is a film that mates classic Besson with Quentin Tarantino in a go at the mystical, world-solving vision found in Stanley Kubrick’s "2001: A Space Odyssey" and Terrence Malick’s "The Tree of Life." Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanJul 25, 2014
What Johansson does in Lucy won't win her any prizes, but it establishes her ability to carry a movie that has some ideas, however half-baked, and has nothing to do with her obvious sex appeal. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJul 25, 2014
When it comes to sheer comic-book fun, few summer movies deliver a more consistent, satisfying, thoroughly enjoyable shot of cinematic jouissance than the delightfully adventurous actress Scarlett Johansson's latest bit of strange, Lucy. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJul 25, 2014
Like many films by Besson — "The Professional," "The Fifth Element," "The Messenger" and other high-octane shoot-'em-ups — Lucy starts out riveting but becomes less engaging as it goes along. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 24, 2014
Lucy is what a superhero movie might look like if developed by Spike Jonze and/or Michael Gondry. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 24, 2014
Scarlett Johansson is ideally cast as a rapidly evolving kick-ass hero in Lucy, a stylish action thriller that is equal parts dazzling and ludicrous. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrJul 24, 2014
It’s all ridiculous and enjoyable, and at the movie’s center is an actress creatively guessing at what omniscience might feel like. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 24, 2014
A full-out action movie - and a sober rumination on the nature of existence. It is both things, effectively and sincerely. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithJul 24, 2014
In a captivating climax, the movie turns attractively freaky, though somewhat marred by cheesy special effects, and there’s a huge debt to the immense leaps of “2001.” An abrupt ending feels frustrating and leaves questions floating in space. Then again, I’m using only 3 to 5 percent of my capacity, so what do I know? Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyJeff LabrecqueJul 24, 2014
By the time the film exhausts itself—in a brisk 89 minutes — it feels like there's literally nowhere that Lucy and Besson can't go, no boundaries, no laws, no logic. Just go with it. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineAbhimanyu DasJul 23, 2014
Vulgar auteurist Luc Besson finally commits wholeheartedly to his decades-long preoccupation with waifish young women discovering their inner Shiva, spinning the concept out to its most delirious possible extremes. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJul 25, 2014
An outlandishly entertaining mixture of high silliness and high style. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirJul 24, 2014
There are a number of terrific production numbers in Lucy, basically violent action scenes that border on slapstick, and as long as we agree in advance that the “science” in this movie goes beyond pseudo into total B.S., I believe you will leave satisfied. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisJul 24, 2014
Buoyed by Ms. Johansson’s presence, Mr. Besson keeps his entertainment machine purring. He may be a hack, but he’s also a reliable entertainer. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin ChangJul 23, 2014
Giddily recycling everything from “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “The Matrix” to yakuza actioners and National Geographic documentaries, it’s a garish, trippy, wildly uneven and finally quite disarming piece of work, graced by a moment-to-moment unpredictability. Read full review
67
IndieWireEric KohnJul 22, 2014
Lucy doesn't hold together, but with its flashy innovation, Besson's trying to freshen the formula. It's the kind of freewheeling mess of a movie you wish studios would try out more often. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyJul 24, 2014
Lucy, you may have twigged, is named after our 3.2-million-year-old hominid ancestor. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJul 24, 2014
Although Besson, the director of “La Femme Nikita” and the producer of “Taken,” indulges in some operatic violence, the film is more spacey than pacey. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJul 23, 2014
Besson’s script may let her (and Freeman) down in the third act, but the 89 minute long Lucy is so brisk it’ll give you whiplash. Even marginal thrillers benefit from a director and star who have a sense of urgency and are as hellbent as this on not overstaying their welcome. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonSep 5, 2014
This ridiculous, highly watchable, at points startlingly psychedelic action thriller is probably Luc Besson’s best film since ‘Léon’ (which isn’t saying a great deal). Read full review
60
EmpireIan NathanAug 18, 2014
What begins as a thrilling pastiche of comic-book formula gets bogged down in its own scientific prattle — not that you ever stop adoring Johansson’s magnificent heroine. Read full review
60
The DissolveMatt SingerJul 23, 2014
Lucy earns points for its unpredictable treatment of its vaguely superhero-ish premise and an appealing silliness, but it struggles to match wits with the genius at its center. Read full review
60
The GuardianJordan HoffmanJul 23, 2014
The end of the movie goes completely off the rails, but in a way that is charming in its stupidity. Read full review
58
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanJul 24, 2014
Whether you take to it will depend on whether you consider “high-octane” or “nonsense” the more important word. Read full review
58
HitfixDrew McWeenyJul 23, 2014
There are moments of real wonder and even beauty amidst the slam and the bang and the big bada boom, and while Lucy is a mixed bag, it's been mixed by a master, and it is delightfully, happily insane. Read full review
52
Film.comKate ErblandJul 23, 2014
Even Besson’s most bold choices – and this is a film that goes weird, and then just keeps getting weirder – don’t seem so revolutionary when packaged in such well-tread trappings and increasingly shoddy writing. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJul 25, 2014
I know we’re supposed to think that Besson’s daffy cinematic calisthenics are entertaining because at least they are not boring. But I was bored. It didn’t help that Morgan Freeman shows up as a brainy scientist explaining everything to us in his deepest intonations. When was the last time Freeman, a great actor, really acted? Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensJul 24, 2014
An entertainment choice I wouldn’t recommend, but one you might not regret if you dial your expectations down (or your drug intake up). Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 24, 2014
When everything and anything is possible, nothing feels urgent or truly dramatic. The movie devolves into a melange of digital effects and sequences of glamorous slaughter, as Lucy swaggers around, with that big brain, and slouches toward becoming a full-lipped deity. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJul 24, 2014
The junk in Lucy doesn't entirely eclipse the moments when weird is fun. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversJul 24, 2014
Remember "Limitless," the 2011 thriller in which Bradley Cooper becomes a whirling killer dervish from a drug that lets him access 100 percent of his brain? Well, Lucy is basically the same movie with Scarlett Johansson in the Cooper role. It's not a good trade-off. Read full review
50
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJul 23, 2014
Lucy is a confounding experience, but at a brisk 85 or so minutes, it manages not to outstay its welcome. Those not enamored of Besson's particular brand of Euro-schlock grindhouse existentialism, however, may find their brains more stimulated elsewhere. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 24, 2014
A brazenly mindless thriller about the infinite capacities of the human brain. That said, sometimes we just want to shut down and give in to bombastic summer entertainment. In that regard, as usual, Besson delivers. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonJul 24, 2014
There's enough mumbo jumbo about space and time and cellular division to allow Lucy to feign depth, but what lingers is Besson's regressive belief that even the most intelligent woman on earth can't figure out how to get her way without a miniskirt and a gun. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJul 23, 2014
Lucy plays more like a big dumb superhero flick than sci-fi. Read full review
20
Time OutKeith UhlichJul 23, 2014
The funny thing about all these sub-"Matrix" shenanigans is that they’re genuinely meant to stoke thought and reflection. Frankly, though, few movies have left me feeling as shorn of gray matter. Read full review
12
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJul 24, 2014
Besson has always demonstrated the ability to chuckle at the madness of his own material, and he provides some solid laughs from time to time. But these winks do nothing to erase the reality of a plot that becomes unintentionally hilarious. Read full review
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