"Lucy" Out-Muscles "Hercules"

Scarlett Johanssen stretches as an actress and proves she's more than one of the sexiest women in movies with her new film by French writer-director Luc  Besson, "Lucy." It took in a whooping $44 million plus over the weekend, easily out-distancing itself from the second place film, "Hercules," which could only muster a less-than-expected $29 million.

Photo courtesy of Canal + pictures.

"Lucy" is an American college student studying in Taipei who gets trapped into becoming a drug smuggler, aka "mule."

Photo courtesy of Canal + pictures.

When a powerful synthetic drug she's carrying, called CPH4,  accidentally gets into her system, "Lucy" starts to increasingly use more of her brain (not the usual 3% of mere mortals) until it reaches 100% and she turns into a super-human being with mental powers unheard of in ordinary times. Morgan Freeman plays a scientist in Paris who studies these possibilities and eventually becomes a constructive link between "Lucy" and the small brain world. "Lucy" is a smart, violent, brave and intriguing motion picture that poses many fascinating potentialities, most of which is based on sound science. It will send you out of the theater thinking...maybe even with more than 3% of your brain?

The balance of the box office numbers for the weekend show "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" in third spot, followed by "The Purge: Anarchy" and "Planes: Fire and Rescue." So far, the summer movie season of 2014 is not living up to box office expectations, but "Lucy" will help that situation, if only a little.