I finally watched Luc Besson’s film Lucy, and it did not disappoint. It was as trippy and fast paced and visually stunning as we have come to expect from Luc Besson.
Besson takes the premise of “We only use 10% of our brain. What would happen if we used 100%?” to create a very silly fantasy. But then again, it is a very entertaining silly fantasy.
That 10% theory has long been debunked, but in any case you could argue that a film like this isn’t really science fiction — it just uses the trappings of science to create a fun and wacky fantasy. Which leads me to a question:
Is it really “Science Fiction” if you’re being shown a straight-out fantasy that is just using the trappings of science? Or is it something else?
By that token, are the “Star Wars” movies actually science fiction? Or are they really swords and sorcery dressed up in science fiction costumes? After all, a large part of the appeal of the Star Wars universe is that it has powerful wizards (both good and evil, just like Gandalf and Sauron), and that there are a lot of on-screen sword fights (they are called lightsabers, but we all know what they really are).
I guess we could just call such films “Science Fantasy”. But I suppose that would take away the fun that we are all having playing make-believe.