So I went to a deserted island last week. Actually I went to see The Island, and it was deserted (thank Jay Leno for that joke). Seriously though, this has been one of the worst received blockbusters of the year, and did not premiere in theaters with a very good showing. Deserving or not, it looks like this film didn't find the audience it needed to keep itself in theaters long enough to make back its bloated budget. The Island is the latest Michael Bay, blow up everything, wreck a lot of police cars, action film, which we are graced with on a yearly basis each summer. It would appear that audiences are reaching their limits with his films though, and just didn't turn out for this one. The Island DID appeal to me, and I was willing to give it a chance at an afternoon showing on my birthday.
The Island stars Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson as two people who have discovered that they are clones trapped in a facility whose only intent is to use them for replacement parts of the real people out in the world. Not exactly what you would call a happy existence, and as would be expected, they set out to escape the facility where they are being "groomed". The facility is being run by a doctor played by Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings, National Treasure), who has received government money to get this program off the ground. This puts him in the untouchable realm of things, and puts him in the roll of God to all of the clones within the facility. People of the outside world know nothing about what really goes on in the facility, and thus don't know the extent to which their "replacement parts" are gained.
To keep the people in the facility from becoming suspicious or from being unhappy with their existence, they have been given the goal of attaining entry to "The Island." This island is a figment of the doctor’s imagination, basically designed to remove people from the population, and harvest their internal organs. A pretty gruesome existence for the people who have to live in the facility, and it is no surprise that nobody living there would want to go along with the process if they only knew. McGregor's character, Lincoln Six Echo, questions everything, despite his doctor's belief that it shouldn't be possible. This leads Lincoln to figuring out what is going on, and planning an escape from the facility. The rest of the movie transpires in continuous action scenes of McGregor and Johansson running from people the facility has hired to bring them back to their prison.
The premise of the film is very interesting, and there are a lot of very interesting moral and ethical dilemmas that are placed in front of the audience as the movie moves forward. There are several really well done action sequences, especially a car chase involving a semi-truck, and then a sequence on the side of a hotel building. This is typical Michael Bay action, and fans of his films will not come away disappointed from this one. In fact, I think that the story, combined with the action, made this one a little better than his average summer action film. I found myself wondering about the ethical questions about cloning instead of fully enjoying the film, but after thinking about the film post-watching it, I find myself thinking that I really did enjoy it.
McGregor and Johansson are perfect in their roles of clones who don't know the basics of surviving in the real world. Also, Djimon Hounsou is great as a security officer who is sent out to recapture the two clones. It would appear that Sean Bean has been type-cast into the roll of the bad-guy now, so I didn't really get into his character all that much, but I did expect him to act the way that he did in this roll. The other bonus in the film, was a small part given to Steve Buscemi who really shines. With strong acting, a story that makes you think a little bit, and some great action sequences, I found the film to be quite watchable. You do have to look at it as a Michael Bay film going into the theater though, and if that is what you are open to, then you will enjoy this movie. The ideas of the film are not original, but they are updated, and there is a new spin put on them that made it interesting to me.
Lincoln Six-Echo is a resident of a seemingly utopian but contained facility in the mid-21st century. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully co...More at HotMovieSale.com
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