While she hasn’t worn a gold bikini, been chained to a giant slug, run around hyperspace without underwear with the infamous Buns of Navarone (as Carrie Fisher describes them in the highly entertaining The Princess Diarist ) clapped to her ears, Scarlett Johansson has emerged as the fantasy/sci-fi princess. She rules supreme over geekdom with her bee-stung lips and va-va-voom body.
Angelina Jolie was a contender for a bit with her roles as Lara Croft, the foxy Fox in Wanted and Grendel’s mother in Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf . Then she went off to heal the world. Carrie Ann-Moss was incendiary as Trinity in the opening sequence of The Matrix . However, she was quickly reduced to making cow’s eyes at a stone-faced Neo. The exquisite Natalie Portman, who plays Leia’s mum, Princess Padme Amidala in the awful Star Wars prequels, also plays Thor’s girlfriend and astrophysicist Jane Foster, loses out to Johansson on numbers and scale.
Johansson, whose breakout adult performance in Lost in Translation won her a BAFTA, has been mixing them up to end up the highest-grossing actress. So while she has worked with auteurs including Woody Allen and Brian De Palma and small, indie movies, she has also worked in the mother of all superhero franchises, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her combination of bold, brassy sex symbol (she could be the personification of the blond in the red dress in The Matrix ) and restful serenity has been exploited to create some memorable roles. Here are the top five.
The Island (2005)
BL-26, Mumbai: Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson in `The Island.' For use with review by Shyam for States Page.
Directed by Michael Bay, the film features Johansson as Sarah Jordan a supermodel, and Jordan Two Delta, her clone. The movie is set in the very near future (2019) where clones are used for organ harvesting and surrogacy. Ewan McGregor, who also plays a clone, Lincoln Six Echo, and Johansson realise the world is wicked place and liberate the clones from their evil human masters before sailing off into the unknown on a boat. Being a Michael Bay movie meant there was relentless action, running and jumping. You could ponder about where the clone ends and the human begins, the morality of organ harvesting or you could enjoy the explosions and the tight costumes.
Iron Man 2 (2010)
This photo provided by Disney/Marvel shows, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, in the film, "Avengers: Age Of Ultron." The movie releases in the U.S. on May 1, 2015. (Jay Maidment/Disney/Marvel via AP)
To think Johansson played The Black Widow only because Emily Blunt dropped out due to a scheduling conflict! Starting with Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2, where she plays an undercover spy for S.H.I.E.L.D, Johansson has played Natasha Romanoff in The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016). With her red hair, black spandex and killer moves, The Black Widow can hold her own in a room full of super heroes. Her relationship with Captain America adds a beating heart to her dangerous beauty.
Her (2013)
Her follows all rom com conventions with a small difference. The movie written, directed, and produced by Spike Jonze, tells of the relationship between a man and his Operating System. In this futuristic film, Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly who writes letters for those who cannot express themselves. Going through a divorce, Theodore buys a talking OS with Artificial Intelligence who names herself Samantha. Johansson imbues the voice of Samantha with curiosity and warmth. It is no mean feat to create a character and get audience to empathise without visual cues. That Johansson does it with flair, getting us to care for Samantha speaks volumes of her acting chops. In a bleak cold future where we each live in a digital island surrounded by a sea of bytes, Johansson’s Samantha seems like a good companion to have by our side.
Lucy (2014)
This image released by Universal Pictures shows Scarlett Johansson in a scene from "Lucy." (AP Photo/Universal Pictures, Jessica Forde)
Goofy science, Morgan Freeman, little black dress, Louboutins—log on to Lucy to free your mind of silly physics laws and have fun. Written and directed by Luc Besson, Lucy is the story of an American student in Taipei who becomes unwilling drug mule. The drug is not sordid cocaine or heroin or any of that sort of trash. It is a mind-altering drug that will reveal the answers to life the universe and everything. Johansson plays Lucy who becomes beyond brainy after a bag of drugs bursts in her stomach. She becomes a super computer and transfers all her knowledge and disappears into the space time continuum leaving her Louboutins behind. The Euro trash music, continental look and feel and the eminently easy on the eye Johansson all made for an enjoyable film.
The Ghost in the Shell (2017)
In this image released by Paramount Pictures, Scarlett Johansson appears in a scene from, "Ghost in the Shell." (Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures via AP)
Johansson plays Motoko Kusanagi, a cyber super soldier in this adaptation of the eponymous manga. Evolving from a long line of technologically-enhanced humans — think Terminator and Robocop, Johansson with strange white body suit and excellent haircut, presents herself in yet another princess avatar. There have been murmurings against the casting implying a whitewash, but then Johansson looks ethereal, steely and vulnerable—in short the perfect ghost in the shell as she goes about kicking ass and bonding with her mum. Awwww.
