Remember when Luc Besson said he was retiring? That was pretty funny (and short-lived). Dude has never been busier and is a mogul now, first and foremost, at the head of the very successful production house EuropaCorp. And the Besson brand, for better or worse, now stands in for mid-budget action fare like “Taken,” “Columbiana” and “Lockout” that even if they don’t do well in theaters, don’t cost much to make, and tend to have a long shelf life. And while as a director he’s currently working on “Malavita” with Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, it looks like he’s ready to return to his familiar milieu of women kicking ass.
Besson is lining up his next action flick, entitled “Lucy,” and has snagged Scarlett Johansson to lead the movie. Besson penned the script as well and it follows a woman who is forced to become a drug mule — okay, sounds fine — who finds the substances have entered her body instead — okay, interesting — “transforming her into an ass-kicking machine.” What. The. Fuck. THR adds that additionally, she’ll “absorb knowledge instantaneously, is able to move objects with her mind and can’t feel pain and other discomforts.” So drugs turn a young woman into an X-Men member? Cocaine is a hell of a drug.
So yeah, this kinds sound of bonkers and perhaps a bit dumb, but it sort of fits Besson’s new mold of sorta high concept, no brain action flicks. He did make a stab at a prestige pic with “The Lady” a couple years back, but that didn’t quite work out, so perhaps he’s returning to the wheelhouse he knows will succeed. But another opportunity to watch ScarJo bust some heads is still an intriguing prospect, so we’ll see if this premise just isn’t a gender-switched “Crank” or something.