Why So Blu?

Lucy (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

Lucy was one of those in-home viewing experiences you can’t take back.  It was a religious experience, one of the best of my life.  After being slightly disappointed by the quality of my sci-fi fave Oblivion on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray (review here) and the story in The Huntsman: Winter’s War (4K review forthcoming) I thought Universal was a lost cause with their first-ever 4K Blu-ray offerings.  They were 0 for 2 in my book going into tonight.  I was almost ready to give up hope until Lucy came along.  I wasn’t instantly a huge fan of the 2014 feature, but over the past couple years I have fondly come to enjoy it.  However, that all changed tonight.  I now L-O-V-E it!  Lucy was the much-needed 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray viewing experience I have been waiting for.  It W-O-W-ed me like none other, but I digress.  I’m getting ahead of myself here.

Film

I’m not sure what happened, but sometime circa the Black Widow’s entrance into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Iron Man 2 and later on in movies such as Don Jon and most recently Under the Skin (my full Blu-ray reviews of those two titles can be found here and here) I have become a H-U-G-E fan of the sexy starlet Scarlett Johansson.  Who isn’t, right?  She also gave me a very fine looking performance that I’ll never forget in my favorite Michael Bay movie of all-time, The Island, which came out in 2005 before both of those aforementioned movies above.  So I suppose for the time being I will cast my Scar-Jo history aside and let it slip from the farthest region of my brain (since I’m using less than 10% of it).  I’m doing so because I want to completely concentrate on the task at hand.   It absolutely gives me great pleasure to chat about Scarlett and the somewhat action vehicle here…Lucy!

Truth be told, even before this film’s initial theatrical release date it had been under quite the amount of scrutiny simply because of the film’s “ridiculous” tagline that reads: THE AVERAGE PERSON USES 10% OF THEIR BRAIN CAPACITY.  IMAGINE WHAT SHE CAN DO WITH 100%.  Alright, that may not be 100% medically accurate.  Honestly, we use more than 10% of our brain, but who cares?!  Do you?!  For a film whose trailer literally equates to the word FUN, who are you to put this movie down because of its tagline?  In essence, the trailer promises something almost Transporter-like crazy, but that tagline really does sell it well, doesn’t it?  Sure it does!  Let’s think about it, pull back the layers and examine it some more.  If you watch the film’s trailer, you immediately get the tagline.  It’s practically spelled out for you.  Do we really need to make things more complex here?  NO!  NOT AT ALL!  Guys, we have Scarlett Johansson kicking a$$ throughout here in the trailer.

Speaking for most guys, I can assure you we’re not paying attention to that tagline in this feature any more than we are to Morgan Freeman’s many freckles.  You see, women and men alike are going into this movie for two main reasons: to have a fun time and to see Scarlett kick a lot of a$$ and look sexy as hell doing it.  So I guess you can say for those two reasons alone, the trailer for Lucy accomplishes much more than the whole feature film of Sex Tape even did (it premiered the week before Lucy did back in 2014) for those who were brave enough to check it out, huh?  But what does the movie itself deliver on besides one of the finest 4K Blu-ray viewing experiences ever?  That is the question of the hour, isn’t it?  Read on…

How do I say this politely without turning anybody off right away?  The trailer for Lucy, the film you think you are going into and seeing is not the movie you’re getting.  Does that make sense?  The trailer, as we discussed up above, is fun.  The movie, although fun at times, is anything but that most of the time.  It’s smarter!  It may start off like the promise of the trailer, but it takes a sharp right turn into the world of sic-fi almost as hard knocking as The Matrix trilogy.  If you’re a newbie to Lucy, you are probably going into this one expecting a wild romping time like in the first two Transporter films or even Crank for that matter, but if you are not a fan of the sic-fi genre, you’re going to be left feeling a bit pissed off.

I remember when I first saw Lucy in the theater.  As the credits rolled and I sat there baffled at what I just saw trying to come up with subjective and critical words for my response sheet for the studio.  I just thought to myself, a lot of paying customers are going to walk out of this one very mad.  It’s not that Scarlett Johansson did anything wrong.  It’s actually quite the contrary.  It’s just that Hollywood did it again and gave you what you want to see in a trailer and lured you in under false pretenses almost like Scarlett’s character did to her Scottish men in Under The Skin, probably my favorite Johansson flick.  Cha ching!

Now luckily for me, being a fan of science fiction, I am able to hang in here.  The film starts off really quirky and fun, complete with cute animal copulation and hilarious photo bombs, but once Act 2 hit things started spiraling out of control.  The ground starts feeling shaky and no longer stable.  It turns into something else compeltely.  In other words, it evolves, in a very smart way!  However, that’s probably enough to scare most viewers off who just want a dumb action flick.  Lucy is definitely NOT that!  In the premise for Lucy, Scarlett Johansson’s character is forced to deliver a package implanted inside of her, only to gain unique abilities after the package is ruptured.  That’s all the food for thought I’ll give you.  The best part about Lucy is discovering it all for yourself!

Is Scarlett enough to save this feature?  Yes…and…no.  She does a great job with what she is given here.  She even reminds me a bit of her gullible and innocent performance in The Island.  So that much is very cute and lovable about her.  Do I want more a$$ kicking?  Of course I do!  I crave violence in my movies and music.  Sadly, it kind of makes me tick.  However, it is what it is.  I told you Lucy is not what it seems on the surface.  It’s much more!  And finally, I yearned for more action!  If you’re not willing to put up with some very high-concept, strong sic-fi ingredients in your movies, you’re never ever going to want to make the return trip here.  This is a one-way flight, not a round-trip.  If you’ve seen Lucy before, you’ll get that reference.  Ha ha.

So let’s talk about the direction here before we move onto why we’re really all here…the 4K disc vitals.  Lucy is directed and written by Luc Besson, the same guy who brought you The Fifth Element, so I guess you can’t scream you were blind-sided by this ultimate, Matrix-like sci-fi ride.  This film is full of themes like self-discovery of one’s potential and even coming of age I guess you can say.  And I know I did not mention him here yet either, but I need to make reference to the fact that everyone’s favorite, Morgan Freeman, shows up here.  Like the character of Morpheus to Neo in The Matrix, Freeman does a fantastic job as Professor Norman to Lucy in this one.   You don’t know how bad I want to keep dropping Matrix hints here and there in this review.  Like Neo in The Matrix, Lucy is all about the self-discovery of one’s power and ultimately finding out what they can be.  In The Matrix you have the Oracle, but in Lucy all you have are hypotheses.  Do they come true?  That’s what you’ll find out if you choose to view.  Lucy is both simple and complex, but nevertheless you’ll always have Scar-Jo to stare at.  Moving on…

Video

The below video score and relative comments are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Lucy with HDR-10.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 4K (2160p)
• Layers: BD-66
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Clarity/Detail: You can say what you want about Lucy as a film, but there’s no denying this is one of the finest looking 4K experiences to ever grace the new Ultra HD format yet.  This one is eye-popping and razor sharp throughout and there’s really not one example to give, but ALL.  The whole film is splendid to watch.  It honestly does not get any better than this my 4K friends.  If you’re a disciple to 4K video, then this Lucy Ultra HD Blu-ray disc is your gospel!  Edges are sharp, clarity and fine detail is both consistent and prominent throughout, textures are so real you swear you can reach out and touch them, etc.  This one’s flawless folks.  Trust me!  There’s nothing blurry to be found here.
• Depth: Depth of field is insane here.  Pick any sequence.  I dare you!  The onscreen characters magically pop in three-dimensional fashion against their rich, detailed set environments.  However, that’s just it.  Look at those background sets!  They are sharp as can be.  This one has winner, winner chicken dinner written all over it!
• Black Levels: Black levels and contrast is exceptional throughout here.  Like Scar-Jo herself, this one is reference from head-to-toes.
• Color Reproduction: Colors are bold, vibrant and vivacious throughout.  You know when you go into Best Buy and you see that 4K image they are pumping through all their 4K sets in hopes that you’ll take one home with you that very same day?  Well, that’s Lucy times 10 here.  Colors look like a million bucks.  You can take that to the bank!
• Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural throughout.  Even though the colors are vivacious and jacked throughout, the flesh tones never lose any of their authenticity.  You gotta love that!  You can see every freckle and mole on Scar-Jo faithfully reproduced just like you were staring at her pasty white skin in real life.
• Noise/Artifacts: The image as a whole is immaculate from beginning to end.  There’s nothing at all to write home about that will distract (other than Scar-Jo) or take away from your enjoyable viewing experience of Lucy on 4K Ultra HD.

Audio

Like I mentioned up above in the video section, the below audio score and judging comments are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Lucy.    Thankfully, this time out on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format Lucy gets a serious upgrade.  The 4K Ultra HD disc comes with a bombastic Dolby Atmos surround track to boot compared to the regular Blu-ray’s DTS-HD Master Audio surround track.  Hell yeah!

• Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
• Dynamics: Lucy‘s audio presentation on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray will pummel you in a very good way.  Ha ha.  Everything is in perfect harmonious balance here from this quietest nuance to the loudest blow.  This 4K presentation is what puts the “dyno” in dynamics!  I won’t overlook Eric Serra’s hypnotizing score here either.  Let’s just say it puts your brain in a trance and in the right mood to enjoy the Lucy ride!
• Height: When we’re talking height due to the employment of the Atmos equipped track, noticeable moments include just about everything from bullets being deflected to the ceiling to the drugs exploding in Lucy’s body and traveling upwards from within.  There are many more examples of how Dolby Atmos is properly used here, but I think you get the big picture.  The additional height of the surround mix here simply makes Lucy one of the finest 4K Blu-ray tracks I ever heard.
• Low Frequency Extension: The LFE channel is both engaging and pummeling throughout Lucy‘s run time here.  It will knock you down if you don’t hang on, but it also never lets you go either.  You’re never going to have to worry about whether your subwoofer is on during this presentation.  The LFE channel never lets you forget its sheer dominance here.  Many the times I thought my subwoofer was going to blow.  I’m exaggerating of course, but holy hell does this one pack a punch.  Every gunshot, blow and car crash carries enough weight to knock you over and plow you down.  This track takes no prisoners.
• Surround Sound Presentation: The surround sound is the final piece of the perfect puzzle here that will completely razzle and dazzle you from filling your viewing room with atmosphere and thumping score to fully engaging you in the most immersive experience of the year on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format thus far.  I never once felt detached during my whole viewing experience.  I always felt part of the picture, almost like a fourth dimension so to speak.  Embrace the chaos here as every pan, cross channel fade, door opening, gunshot, etc. is masterfully directional in its approach and flawless in its execution.  More often than naught I found myself just lost, utterly amazed and completely caught up in the world of Lucy here.
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialogue is clear, intelligible, loud and prioritized throughout.  I never not once heard any spoken word throughout, even the foreign ones.  Ha ha.

Extras

Up above, you’ll find an image of what Lucy‘s 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray menu.  Now if Universal’s 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set of Lucy falls short in one area, it’s the Extras!  Besides the feature film in 1080p on a separate Blu-ray disc, there’s only two supplements to be found here.  However, for anyone that cares, the Digital HD copy of the movie can be redeemed in UHD in both Vudu or Flixster.  So there’s always that!  Now let’s chat about the two lone extras found on the 1080p Blu-ray disc.

• The Evolution of Lucy (HD, 16:14) – Here we follow Lucy’s transformation through the eyes of writer and director Luc Besson, Scar-Jo and Morgan Freeman as they discuss the vision of the film, script and the development of it all.  I really like how they deep dive and analyze the movie in here.  We also take a look around and behind the shoot itself and some of the visual effects (including the impressive stunt work employed in the car chase I love so much here) Besson employs to bring his ideas to life.
• Cerebral Capacity: The True Science of Lucy (HD, 10:04) – Besson, Morgan Freeman and professors discuss the science of Lucy,  Yes!  There is mention of the 10% of your brain being used thing here.  Why else do you think this extra exists?  Ha ha.  The real answer is no one knows how much capacity of brain we use.  We all see some behind-the-scenes footage in here too.

Summary

So as you can see from the overall score of 4.5 I have given Lucy on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray here, yes I’m very biased!  I rounded up because I have yet to experience a HDR presentation like Lucy ever before.  I can’t unsee what I have just seen.  With R-E-F-E-R-E-N-C-E audio and video presentations, Universal’s Lucy is one you MUST-OWN in your 4K Ultra HD collection.  In fact, you MUST drop everything you are doing now and click on the link here or down below to bring this 4K Blu-ray title home ASAP.  Trust me!  Have I ever led you stray these past two months of covering these new HDR releases?  Of course I haven’t!  Lucy on 4K Blu-ray is a bargain at any price.  Now I’m thinking I have to pick up The Lone Survivor just to see how it compares in contrast to my 4K viewings of Oblivion and the ever superior Lucy.  Enjoy this one my 4K friends!

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DISCLAIMER: This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review was judged and graded using the following 4K certified A/V gear found here.  Make sure to check out all out 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews archived here.

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