
The film was released on 25 July 2014 and became a massive box office success, grossing over $469 million worldwide, more than eleven times the budget of $40 million. It received generally positive, but also polarized, critical reviews. Although praise was given for its themes, visuals, and Johansson's performance, many critics found the plot nonsensical, especially its focus on the ten-percent-of-the-brain myth and resulting abilities.
Plot
Lucy is an American studying in Taipei. Her new boyfriend Richard coerces her into delivering a briefcase containing four bags of the highly valuable synthetic drug CPH4 to Mr. Jang, a South Korean drug lord, at Regent Taipei.
After witnessing Richard being shot dead, she is captured and forced to become a drug mule. One bag of the drug is sewn into her abdomen for transport to Europe. However, she is kicked in the stomach, breaking the bag and releasing a large quantity of the drug into her system. She acquires enhanced physical and mental capabilities, such as telepathy, telekinesis, mental time travel, and negated emotions; she also ceases to feel pain. Using her new abilities, she kills her captors and escapes.
Lucy travels to the nearby Tri-Service General Hospital to get the bag of drugs removed. She is told by the operating doctor that natural CPH4 is produced in tiny quantities by pregnant women during their sixth week of pregnancy to provide fetuses with the energy to develop. As her abilities continue to develop, Lucy returns to Mr. Jang's hotel, kills his bodyguards, assaults him, and telepathically extracts the locations of the drug mules who are carrying the three other bags of CPH4.