Scarlett Johansson takes a turn as yet another science-fiction heroine in this trailer for Luc Besson’s upcoming film Lucy. As Lucy, Johansson is manipulated into acting as a drug mule before suddenly turning superhuman—a side effect of the drugs leaking into her system, allowing her to access more and more of her cerebral cortex. What that means, according to the trailer, is that Johansson is suddenly incredibly strong, incredibly agile, telepathic, telekinetic, shapeshifting, and able to read really, really fast. She also learns Chinese in an hour—Lucy’s version of “I know kung fu.”
In fact, the whole trailer has a Matrix feel to it: Towards the end, Lucy begins to see light and code running through everyday objects, like trees and car windshields. The production company, France-based EuropaCorp, stated in a press release that this film uses more special effects than any other of Besson’s earlier work, like The Fifth Element and La Femme Nikita. Much of that, it seems, will be devoted to showing how much Lucy’s experience of the world changes as she accesses more of her brain.
The film was shot on location in New York, Paris, and Taipei, and will be released in U.S. theaters on August 8.