Lucy (15, 89 mins) 3/5 stars 

DERRIERE-NUMBINGLY long films may be all the rage, but at a lean 89 minutes, Lucy, the new action thriller from Luc Besson, is all the better for bucking this Hollywood trend. And with a kidnapping, killing sprees and questionable drugs thrown into the fray, there’s certainly enough to keep you in your seat.

Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is a carefree student living in Taiwan, who is tricked by boyfriend Richard into carrying a briefcase, packed with potent new drugs, into a hotel for him. But there’s no time for pleasantries and before the concierge has greeted Lucy, Richard has been dispatched and Lucy is held hostage by the neighbourhood’s mob of drug lords headed up by the unsparing Mr Jang (Choi Min-sik).

Waking up, Lucy discovers that the mob has taken the liberty of surgically implanting the deadly blue drug, CPH4, which increases the user’s brain capacity, into her stomach. And more than that, if the bright blue crystals leak, it will kill her. But leak it does and Lucy, who is sent across the world as a drug mule, soon finds her brain working on disturbing new levels.

As well as being hell-bent on exacting revenge on the mobsters, Lucy also busies herself by tracking down the eminent professor Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman) in Paris who has spent decades researching the brain’s potential. In a deft twist to Johansson’s role as a human-like operating system in Spike Jonze’s Her, Lucy sees the actress’ voice take on a lifeless tone, shedding personality and lightness as her brain’s potential expands.

Much has been made of the film’s neurological theory not stacking up, but scientific soundness isn’t the mission here – entertainment is. And while there are some rather odd moments, such as the flashes to a prehistoric Lucy, the strained conversation Lucy has with her mum and the missed opportunity to kill Mr Jang while she can, Lucy is nevertheless a punchy film, which demands your attention every minute of the way.

What If (15, 102 mins) 3/5 stars

IF you subscribe to a notion of free will – that we are architects of our own destiny rather than slaves to unseen forces – which in itself would be an act of free will, then it’s easy to fixate on the never ending jumble of what ifs.

What if I had worked harder at school; what if I had chosen another profession; what if I had taken a leap of faith and said, “I love you”; what if an actor other than Daniel Radcliffe had been cast in Michael Dowse’s romantic comedy? Casey Affleck was reportedly interested in playing the film’s emotionally bruised hero, but eventually passed. It’s our loss.

Radcliffe allows some of the woodenness of his Hogwarts years to creep into his portrayal of a medical school dropout, who stumbles upon love when he least expects it. On-screen chemistry with the luminous Zoe Kazan simmers pleasantly, but never reaches boiling point, diminishing our investment in the characters as they struggle to overcome the fear of rejection and verbalise, their churning emotions.

With a different lead actor, who allowed the laughs in Elan Mastai’s script to build naturally rather than forcing them, What If could have been an emotionally richer, funnier and sexier slice of modern day twentysomething angst with the potential to usurp the genre’s reigning champion: (500) Days Of Summer.

Wallace (Radcliffe) is disillusioned with love and then he encounters talented animator Chantry (Kazan), who lives with her longtime boyfriend Ben (Rafe Spall). He and Chantry become good friends, but both secretly acknowledge a spark of attraction that could be fanned into a full-blown affair.

What If follows a time-honoured romcom recipe and has many of the ingredients to delight but Michael Dowse’s lightweight confection fails to rise properly. While Kazan eases into her role, Radcliffe is an awkward fit and his comic timing is slightly off throughout.

Deliver Us From Evil (15, 118 mins) 2/5 stars

BASED on the book Beware The Night by retired NYPD police officer Ralph Sarchie, Deliver Us From Evil is a supernatural horror about Sarchie’s real-life encounters with the forces of darkness on the streets of New York.

Great swathes of Scott Derrickson’s film are hard to swallow, however, the director and co-writer Paul Harris Boardman treat the source material with utmost seriousness and expect us to do the same.

Derrickson engineers some mildly creepy shocks between set pieces, culminating in a camera-shaking showdown between good and evil that leaves many questions unanswered.

Deliver Us From Evil unfolds at a consistent, steady pace, opening Sarchie’s bloodshot eyes to a world of unspoken horror.