27 Movies Like ‘Lucy’ That Actually Do The Futuristic Thriller Genre Justice

When Lucy, a French psychological thriller starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman, was released in 2014, it didn’t get the best reviews. In fact, The Atlantic called it “the dumbest movie about brain capacity” in its review. On Rotten Tomatoes, review after review mentions that the plot is convoluted and that there are tons of plot holes, though ScarJo’s performance tends to get a thumbs up at least. Still, what’s so bad about a convoluted action movie about a woman who is abducted, injected with a chemical that gives her telekinetic powers, and searching for someone who can cure her? All while evading her captors, no less? Movies are meant to be an escape from reality. And for those of us who still enjoyed the film, finding other movies like Lucy means we get to embrace even more escapism. Yep, we’re down for that!

Besides, not everyone hated it. Matt Zoller Seitz wrote on RogerEbert.com of the movie that, despite its flaws, “Lucy is a fun, confident work. It’s fast and tight and playful even when it’s sadistic and violent, which is often. It lasts about 90 minutes and change but feels longer in a good way because every second is packed tight. It’s full of itself, yet it still keeps winking at you. It wants to be taken seriously, but not so seriously that you don’t laugh at (and with) the sight of Lucy strolling into a gunfight wearing nosebleed heels, or making enemies writhe like marionettes on invisible strings. The movie is alive. It pops.”

So, if you loved the film despite its many plot holes and sci-fi tropes, you’re going to want to cue up the following movies like Lucy to transport you into another realm (where some evil genius is set on turning humans into cyborgs and the like). You can thank us later.

Movies Like Lucy

1. Upgrade (2018)

Called an “underrated sci-fi movie” by Screengeek, this movie has a cult following on Netflix. After a gory accident that leaves the main character paralyzed and his wife dead, a billionaire offers him a cure to ensure he walks again and gives him superhuman powers. He does what anyone in a movie like this would do — seek revenge on the people who changed his life forever.

2. Limitless (2011)

Bradley Cooper plays a disheveled and hapless writer who just can’t get his life together. His life changes completely when his ex’s brother offers him a designer, still-off-the-market drug to cope. He uses his new clarity and brainpower to dominate the financial world, which works out for the most part. Until Robert DeNiro shows up as a billionaire looking for a whiz kid, his pills start to run out, and he realizes that the meds might not be what they seem at all. Much like everyone else around him as he rises to the top.

3. Oblivion (2013)

This one has less to do about turning humans into the best versions of themselves and more to do with none other than Tom Cruise working to save humankind once Earth has been abandoned after an alien war. Sure, that sentence sounds insane, but once he meets a woman who falls from a spacecraft, it gets even more out of control. Buckle in.

4. Replicas (2018)

You shouldn’t need any reason to watch this movie other than the fact that Keanu Reeves is in it. But in case that’s not enough, the plot of this movie is wild. Reeves plays a man whose kids and wife get killed in a tragic accident. He tries to develop a way for him to preserve their memories and, because this is a sci-fi movie, clone them. Turns out it’s a little more complicated than it sounds.

5. Self/Less (2015)

The iconic Ben Kingsley plays a billionaire who has everything going for him until he is diagnosed with cancer. It turns out that money can buy mostly anything — including a cure to restore his healthy body. It works, but he’s transformed into a younger version of himself in New Orleans (played by Ryan Reynolds). Drama, action, and psychological mind games ensue.

More Movies Like Lucy to Watch Next

1. Inception (2010)
2. Super 8 (2011)
3. Transcendence (2014)
4. Memento (2000)
5. The Prestige (2006)
6. Looper (2012)
7. Anon (2018)
8. Atomic Blonde (2017)
9. Shutter Island (2010)
10. Gemini Man (2019)
11. Source Code (2011)
12. Elysium (2013)
13. Wanted (2008)
14. Total Recall (1990)
15. Push (2009)
16. Jumper (2008)
17. Anna (2019)
18. Ghost in the Shell (2017)
19. The Host (2013)
20. Gone Girl (2014)
21. Upgrade (2018)
22. Odd Thomas (2013)