More than a decade after it was first released, Scarlett Johansson’s hidden sci-fi thriller gem Lucy is getting a second life with unexpected streaming success. Johansson is one of the most popular movie stars in the world, and her name can be seen all over the streaming charts, but it tends to be big franchise movies like Avengers: Endgame and Jurassic World Rebirth.

But Johansson is one of the few actors who don’t have to rely on recognizable I.P. to score a box office success. She’s turned original movies like Sing, We Bought a Zoo, and He’s Just Not That Into You into huge hits. Her biggest original starring vehicle is climbing the top 10 on HBO Max, and it deserves its comeback.

Why Scarlett Johansson’s 2014 Thriller Lucy Is A Big Hit On HBO Max

The global top movies on HBO Max include Best Picture hopefuls like Sinners and One Battle After Another, as well as recent horror films like Death of a Unicorn and I Know What You Did Last Summer. But a 12-year-old Johansson vehicle has managed to sneak into the top 10 as audiences are rediscovering it on streaming.

Lucy stars Johansson as an American student who runs afoul of her boyfriend’s shady boss, a South Korean drug kingpin. He kidnaps her and forces her to be a drug mule with a bag of experimental drugs sewn into her belly. When she gets kicked and the bag breaks, a huge quantity of the drug seeps into her system.

The plot is based on the debunked myth that we only use 10% of our brains’ capacity, and that it’s possible to “unlock” the other 90%. When this drug gives Lucy access to the other 90%, she becomes a superhero. She gains superhuman abilities like telepathy, telekinesis, and mental time travel; she no longer feels pain, and she has enhanced physical capabilities.

It’s a ludicrous plot, which many critics pointed out at the time, but it’s a great action vehicle for Johansson. Lucy is essentially the perfect action hero; her newfound powers give her the agency and confidence that she didn’t have when she was forced to be a drug mule, and it allows her to take revenge.

Lucy Takes A More Action-Oriented Approach To The Premise Of Limitless

Lucy wasn’t the first movie to dramatize the ten-percent-of-the-brain myth. In 2011, Bradley Cooper starred in Limitless as a struggling writer who takes a similar drug that unlocks 90% of his unused brainpower. But that movie took a much less action-oriented approach. The guy in Limitless doesn’t get any superpowers; he’s just able to concentrate and improve his quality of life.