Spare Parts ; Besides a lively Scarlett Johansson, there's not much to derivative clone film `The Island.'; MovieReview FINAL Edition

Like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Island is the kind of suicidal high- concept movie increasingly prevalent these days: a film so thoroughly pre-conceived and pre-sold that most audiences know more about what's going on than the characters do for half the movie. The few sheltered viewers unfamiliar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Sun (Baltimore, Md. : 1837)
Main Author Sragow, Michael
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Baltimore, Md Tribune Publishing Company, LLC 22.07.2005
Subjects
Bay, Michael
Buscemi, Steve
Johansson, Scarlett
McGregor, Ewan
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Summary:Like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Island is the kind of suicidal high- concept movie increasingly prevalent these days: a film so thoroughly pre-conceived and pre-sold that most audiences know more about what's going on than the characters do for half the movie. The few sheltered viewers unfamiliar with the story will sense something is wrong from the protagonists' names - [Scarlett Johansson] is Jordan Two- Delta, [Ewan McGregor] is Lincoln Six-Echo. Or they'll guess at hidden evils from McGregor's dead-giveaway of a nightmare, or from perennial villain Sean Bean's presence as the institute's director, or from the sanitized environment's resemblance to that of THX- 1138. Within severe limits, Johansson does the same thing in The Island, eliciting funny responses from [Steve Buscemi]'s lowlife and McGregor's naif and unexpected ones from Djimon Hounsou as Bean's private security honcho. In my favorite moment, McGregor commits extreme vehicular mayhem and Johansson simply says "good job." The main thing to cheer about in The Island is Johansson's coruscating deadpan.
ISSN:1930-8965