You may have noticed that two recent articles on this blOg mentioned the name “Johansson.” Scarlett Johansson is the actress in The Island (2005). Ingemar Johansson is the boxer to who knocked Floyd Patterson down seven times, in their championship boxing match in 1959. A reader wondered if they are related? I couldn’t find any reference connecting the two on the Internet. If they were related, I’m sure the kinship would have been reported somewhere on the world wide web.[1. This is just the sort of knowledge exchange that Al Gore had in mind when he invented the Internet]

Anyway, for the skeptics, here is a side by side photographic comparison of Scarlett Johansson and Ingemar Johansson. Actually, I do see a bit of a resemblance. What do YOU think???

Vintage video clip of the 1959 fight follows…

FOOTNOTE:

I think you know, if you read the title to this blOg article, that there must be some pretty serious disclaimers here. There are. But indeed, as of May 12, 2010, if you type “Christian Movie Review Night of the Living Dead” (no quotation marks) into Google© search, the top ranked unpaid response is “MOVIE REVIEW: Night of the Living Dead (1968) – K_Line Christian …” I believe the ranking will change over time, depending on the age of the online article, and lots of other factors that only the gnomes in the Google factory know, so look quickly, before my ranking slips.

• GENRE: Action / Science Fiction
• ACTORS: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou, Steve Buscemi, Sean Bean, Michael Clarke Duncan, Ethan Phillips, Brian Stepanek, Noa Tishby, Siobhan Flynn
• RATING: PG-13
• PARENTAL NOTE: Not suitable for children. Lots of violence. Killing and mayhem aplenty, though not really explicit “gore.” The chase scene shows a lot of “bad” guys being killed, and implies collateral deaths by bystanders.
• INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie is suitable for adults, though it may not be appreciated by those who are not fans of the genre.
• GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) Futuristic look at a colony living underground in a contaminated world. They are waiting for a chance to win a lottery to go to “the Island”–the last unpolluted place left above ground, on Earth
• REVIEW: As one expects from a science fiction and/or action film, it turns out that the situation was not actually as originally believed by the main characters. Though I can’t call this a “wholesome” or especially “thought provoking” movie, the film did score a couple of important points:
  (1) Humans SHOULD NOT take human life[1. Exodus 20:13 ];
  (2) Only God CAN create human life[1. Not stated in as many words. However, the main evil character is referred to as “playing God” in a negative sense]; and
  (3) Matters of life and death are best left to God.[2. Perhaps I’m too optimistic, but to me, this idea is implied.]

Note: Click on the screen after the video loads if you need to go to the YouTube website for a bigger picture.

• RECOMMENDATION: This is an action movie. Many people will be highly offended by every movie in this genre because of the violence, and other questionable elements. There may have been some bad language, but it was not prevalent. I don’t count curse words when I watch a movie. Aside from the moral message, the main draws to this movie were (not necessarily in the order of importance) the big chase scene and Scarlett Johansson. I believe a lot of people[4. Men.] would be very forgiving of shortcomings in plot, acting and execution, so long as Scarlett Johansson’s image fills the screen so much of this movie. Speaking of the plot and the acting–they were OK for a major motion picture. No one is going to mistake this film for the best movie ever made, but I felt somewhat satisfied by the experience of watching it.
• RATING (out of 5 stars): ★★★★★

NOTES: