The Expendables franchise duly establishes the many action men in the entertainment industry, but plenty of them had their glory days back in the eighties/nineties, so where are the hard hitting men of today? Well, the noughties and beyond might now belong to the opposite sex, as women have seemingly taken up the mantle as the main action stars, which include names like Kate Beckinsale, Milla Jovovich, Angelina Jolie, and now Scarlett Johansson, but most of us already know she's a tough cookie from per portrayal as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Now, Johansson's trading the leather suit and gadgets for mobsters and brain-enhancing drugs in Lucy, directed by Luc Besson, who's impressive résumé include Léon: The Professional, The Fifth Element and many producing contributions. Produced by Besson's own EuropaCorp, a studio known for churning out many action flicks (most notably the Transporter and Taken franchise), Lucy is no different, but has the benefit of an extra pinch of sci-fi to keep the audience glued.

Scarlett Johansson absolutely kills it as the titular character, as she's finally been given a chance to excel in a leading role, and she's passing with flying colours. Once Lucy's been drugged up, Johansson is pretty much unstoppable as she takes down mobsters in epic slo-mo, trashes the French police with some Watch Dogs style traffic hacking, and time travel for the benefit of mankind. She was also able to exude a stone-cold demeanor in every scene she plays (which frankly, was the entire film). Meanwhile, Morgan Freeman, who shares equal billing as Johansson, only appears to provide explanation and exposition for Lucy's super brain.

Among the supporting cast are Choi Min-Sik, making his debut in an English language film (about time, since he was best known in the West as the protagonist in the original Korean Oldboy), makes his presence felt as a ruthless and merciless Korean mobster (strangely based in Shanghai), and oddly, he only speaks Korean throughout, and many of his lines actually went untranslated. Amr Waked, who looks eerily similar to a certain Antonio Banderas, plays a French police captain who, just like the audience, is just as confused and dazed about what has been going on.

Lucy starts off with Johansson as a hapless women conned into delivering a package. Things got even more sour when she was forced by a Korean mob to have bag of drugs (called CPH4) sewn inside her stomach and transport them overseas. The bag of drugs soon spilled inside Lucy, gifting her super powers, such as telekinesis, mind control and invisibility, and she utilises her new found powers to go on a violent vendetta against the Korean mobsters. On the way, she also learns that she wouldn't be able to stay alive forever and seeks to pass all her knowledge on to some reliable old chaps including Morgan Freeman's character.

The movie also latches onto the myth of human beings only using 10% of their brain capacity, a concept already done a few years ago in Limitless, starring Bradley Cooper. In both Lucy and Limitless, the protagonists takes a drug that enhances their brain power, and at some point is forced to take more. However, as Limitless explores the use of an enhanced brain to take advantage of stocks and women, Lucy takes the concept further by showcasing superhuman powers and the steps of human evolution. These are supported by some neat special effects that's feels realistic and easy on the eyes.

Movies today seem to only be acceptable if had a running time of at least 2 hours. With Lucy being a 90 minute flick, naturally you would have expected a straightforward story without much complications. However, Luc Besson has managed to pack a lot for the audience to take in, and perhaps too much, as the movie kind of falls by the wayside half way through the movie. To begin with, the first half was both intense and entertaining, as we follow Lucy transform from a forceddrug mule to a female Terminator with ever evolving physic powers. Sadly, the latter portion of the movie really went too far up its own a** as we follow Lucy's increase in brain capacity.

Ultimately, Lucy presents a rather innovative and thought-provoking idea (though it wasn't the first) on our brain potential, but ultimately collapses on itself towards the tail end of its short run-time by finishing off rather prematurely. This might also be the closest thing we'll get to a Black Widow solo film for the time being, but I doubt this will be the last time we see Scarlett Johansson heading an action film. Also, someone should do a super cut of all the questions asked in Lucy, as they were PLENTY.