Logan’s Run, starring Scarlett Johannson’s Breasts

July 26th, 2005

The Island’s not a bad movie. It talks about interesting stuff: corporate misspent government money, cloning and medical ethics in the age of biotech, and humanity’s crisis in the face of impending posthumanity.

Nonetheless, it’s pretty much Logan’s Run, Blade Runner, and a handful of other good science fiction movies from the 70s and 80s. Logan 5 becomes Lincoln 6 Echo. Jessica becomes Jordan. And so on. There are scraps of Blade Runner dialogue here and there, too, but you know what?

It works out for the best.

By knocking off a bunch of creative movies, it is, of course, less creative, but the source material’s so good, and it’s drawn from so selectively, that it works out to be a decent movie. It didn’t need as much stuff blowing up, but the plot’s not bad. I just wish there was less technobabble when they were talking about the technology that makes the story happen. We all recognize a McGuffin when we see it, but you don’t have to rub our noses in it.

Also, Scarlett Johannson is real purdy.



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  • Carrie

    Yes, The Island blantantly makes a stew of the flesh of sci fi movie greats (including the visual sensibility and technology integration from Minority Report, and the “you have a creeped out feeling from your life for a good reason” theme from the Matrix), but what it adds is good. It tackles the issues of cloning and organ donation and corporate investment in health care well, without throwing the theme in your face, but instead exploring its meaning. And I like action movies, so I’m willing to go with the construction workers’ “Jesus must really love you” explaination for their miraculous successes in the spectacular scrapes. Good explosions.

    I like that this sci fi amalgam is being billed as an action-drama-etc movie with no mention of sci fi — Does this mean Science Fiction is so mainstream that it’s just a normal set of themes to draw from, and make any kind of movie you want from it?

    The cinematography is good, the movie was worth seeing from the first dream sequence for me, but then, I’m a sucker for rooms filling with water and being played backwards. That’s probably just me. The charaters were good, despite a few awkward scenes, one with Steve Bucemi, each of the awkwardly done scenes are necessary to set up interesting character behavior of flawed people making good moral choices, and some making bad ones.

    Here’s a tip: if you’re going to use black actors to evoke some parallel to slavery, make it explicit instead of implicit. Just relying on the racist associations of your predominantly white audience is lame. M’kay?

    Also, Scarlett Johansson is real stupit. (Apparently Lost in Translation was to S.J. as the Matrix was to Keanu Reves, concealing the actor’s basic lack of brains and emotion because it happened to be the perfect role for that. By contrast, The Island was to S.J. as As You Like It was to Keanu — the bug-eyed panic of a fish out of water is not enjoyable viewing.)