Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movies that’ll get released in Navi Mumbai’ (Lucy, 22 Jump Street, Lateef – The King of Crime and Hercules) that was published in Newsband

New movies that’ll get released in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Lucy

Lucy is a 2014 French action film directed, written and edited by Luc Besson, and produced by Besson and Europacorp. The film was shot in Taipei, Paris and New York City. It stars Scarlett Johansson as the title character, along with Morgan Freeman playing Professor Norman.

The movie has an interesting plot. Lucy is a 25-year-old American woman living and studying in Taipei, Taiwan. She is tricked into working as a drug mule by her new boyfriend for his employer, a Korean gangster and drug lord named Mr. Jang. Lucy delivers a briefcase to Mr. Jang's hotel room that is handcuffed to her wrist containing a highly valuable synthetic superdrug called CPH4 that can increase the user's brain function capacity. Through a turn of events, the packaged drug is forcibly sewn into Lucy's abdomen and that of others who will also transport the drug for sales in Europe. While in captivity, one of Lucy's captors tries to rape her and kicks her mercilessly in the stomach, causing the bag inside her to leak, releasing the brain-enhancing drug into her system. As a result, she begins acquiring increasingly powerful mental talents and enhanced physical capabilities, such as absorbing information instantaneously, telekinesis, mental time travel, and can choose not to feel pain or other discomforts, in addition to other abilities. She fends off her present captors and arranges herself with the newly gained abilities.

Lucy travels to a nearby hospital to remove the leaking container of drugs from her abdomen. The bag of drugs is successfully removed, and Lucy realizes that she requires the bags inside the other three drug mules in order to continue expanding her neural capacity and that the process of rapid cell growth the drug is stimulating will eventually kill her. Returning to Mr. Jang's hotel, Lucy assaults him and telepathically extracts the locations of all three drug mules from his mind.

She contacts a well-known scientist and doctor, Professor Norman, whose research may be the key to saving her. Lucy recovers the drug and must hurry to meet Professor Norman, with whom she agrees to share everything she now knows, once each cell in her body is controlled. Mr. Jang and his henchmen also want the drug and a gunfight ensues with the French police. The climax is interesting.

22 Jump Street

22 Jump Street is a 2014 American comedy film directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, produced by and starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, and written by Michael Bacall, Oren Uziel, and Rodney Rothman. It is the sequel to the 2012 film 21 Jump Street, based on the television series of the same name.

The movie has an interesting plot. Two years after their success in the Jump Street program, Morton Schmidt and Greg Jenko are back on the streets chasing drug dealers. They thought by going to actual college that they would be hunting down real criminals once again. However, unannounced to them, they were assigned to an online university, only looking for keywords and phrases during online lectures that might give off any indication of any illegal crime happening around the city. Eventually, they come across the meeting time and location of another powerful gang in the docks. However, after failing in the pursuit of a group of dealers led by the elusive Ghost, Deputy Chief Hardy puts the duo back on the program to work for Captain Dickson—now located across the street at 22 Jump Street. Their assignment is to go undercover as college students and locate the supplier of a drug known as "WHYPHY" that killed a student photographed buying it on campus.

At college, Jenko quickly befriends a pair of jocks named Zook and Rooster, two football player fraternity members that become the prime suspects of the investigation. Schmidt gets the attention of an art student, Maya, by feigning an interest in slam poetry. The two sleep together, to the disapproval of Maya's roommate Mercedes, and it is revealed that Maya is the daughter of the vehemently disapproving Captain Dickson. Schmidt and Jenko visit Mr. Walters and Eric in jail for advice on how to look for the WHYPHY supplier. Walters notices a unique tattoo on the arm of the dealer in the photograph and insists that if they find the tattoo, they will have found their man. The movie then reveals whether the two succeed in carrying out their assignment.

Lateef – The King of Crime

Lateef: The King of Crime is based on Gujarat Mafia by Sharique Minhaj. With his debut film Chand Bujh Gaya, director Sharique Minhaj stirred everyone to think about Gujarat's Godhra incident. Though the film was a love story but Sharique Minhaj wove the Godhara incident and Communal riots in the film as the background of the story to show how political passiveness can create havoc in the society.

His love and extensive knowledge of Gujarat is again at display in his 2nd film Lateef: The King of Crime. The film is produced by Kewal Krishna. The film is based on Gujarat Mafia and its nexus with politicians and police. It is not just a crime film but looks into the life of its protagonists. Film delves into the childhood friendship of Lateef and Sohrab-u-Din and their rise to dreaded criminals to be nicknamed as Haji Mastan of Gujarat. He lived King Size life. Neither police nor politicians crossed his way. He ruled Ahmedabad underworld.

In the end he is encountered by the same police which helped him to run drug smuggling, prostitution and kidnapping unchallenged. And by exploring the personal and love life of Abdul Lateef, Shariq Minhaj has successfully added Bollywood ingredients of fun and entertainment in the film.

Star Cast of film is Hameed Khan, Bharti Sharma, Aryan Vaid, Raju Mavani,Aditya Lakhiya,Mustaq Khan, Ahshan khan Kalpana Shah, Rupal Desai,Javed Khan, ShakilSayani, Mithlesh, Shah Nawaz and Master Hani-Sunny.

Hercules

Hercules is an American adventure film directed by Brett Ratner and starring Dwayne Johnson, Ian McShane, Reece Ritchie, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Joseph Fiennes and John Hurt. It is based on the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars. It is one of two Hollywood-studio Hercules films released in 2014, the other being Summit Entertainment's The Legend of Hercules.

The movie has an interesting plot. Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) is the leader of a band of mercenaries comprising the prophet Amphiaraus (Ian McShane), the thief Autolycus (Rufus Sewell), the warrior Tydeus (Aksel Hennie), the archer Atalanta (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) and the storyteller Iolaus (Reece Ritchie). Hercules is said to be the demigod son of Zeus, who completed the legendary Twelve Labors, only to be betrayed by Hera, who drove him insane and caused him to murder his wife Megara (Irina Shayk) and their children during a visit to King Eurystheus (Joseph Fiennes). Hercules has since rejected Zeus and chosen to live as mortal, and is tormented by visions of Cerberus.

One day, Hercules and his men are approached by Ergenia (Rebecca Ferguson), on behalf of her father, Lord Cotys (John Hurt), who wants Hercules to train the armies of Thrace to defend the kingdom from bloodthirsty warlord Rheseus (Tobias Santelmann). Hercules accepts after he and his men are offered his weight in gold, and the band is welcomed to Thrace by King Cotys and General Sitacles (Peter Mullan), leader of the Thracian army. After training the army, Hercules and his men lead them into battle against local barbarians as a test of their strength.

At one stage Hercules realizes that his family was in fact killed by three vicious wolves sent by Eurystheus, resulting in Hercules' constant hallucinations of Cerberus. When Lord Cotys orders Ergenia to be executed for her betrayal, Hercules is encouraged by Amphiaraus to embrace his destiny and breaks free of his chains, saving Ergenia and slaying the wolves. The movie then moves towards an interesting climax.