Year of Release: 2005
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean, Michael Clarke Duncan, Ethan Phillips, Tom Everett
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 3
Watch it on Amazon Prime
Synopsis and Review
By the time he tackled "The Island", Michael Bay was coming off two big commercial hits, "Pear Harbor" and "Bad Boys II". The script originally written by Caspian Tredwell-Owen and then rewritten by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, follows the story of a man called Lincoln Six Echo who lives in a secluded facility, alongside many others, where he leads a very regimented existence. It's 2019, and they've all been informed that life outside that facility has changed considerably and that the island where they live is the only area pathogen free which is still able to support human existence. Lincoln in the meantime has been having vivid dreams that are not related with his own life. He eventually discovers a live moth in a ventilation shaft, which prompts his deduction that life outside the facility isn't compromised. He eventually follows the moth to another section of the facility and discovers that the "lottery", which everyone always looks forward to, is in reality a system that takes people from the facility for organ harvesting, and that all the people in that program are actually clones. Lincoln's discoveries make him a target for Dr. Merrick, who runs the facility and wants to preserve it at all costs. He decides to escape, and takes Jordan Two Delta with him. Merrick in the meantime hires a mercenary to recover them and bring them back to the island. The two escapees in the meantime decide to discover more about the real world.
"The Island", much like many dystopian type of features that have been released since the 1970s, including for instance Michael Anderson's "Logan's Run", all have very similar premises: a central hero is forced to uncover the harsher reality that lies behind the facade of a seemingly perfect society. These dystopian worlds and realities ultimately force the hero to confront his own sense of humanity, but also the foils, insecurities, and lustful violence of those who control and want to continue dominating whatever semblance of power they have. In other words, spin the world, the context, and the time, but human cruelty, thirst for power, and unbridled ambition never change. This type of universe can make for really interesting films and some examples include the unique takes of Terry Gilliam with his "12 Monkeys" or even The Wachowski siblings with "The Matrix", however Michael Bay lacks both the perspective and storytelling prowess to create something memorable from this material. There's something quite calculated and overly labored about "The Island " itself: starting with the casting of the young attractive performers from the time, populating the feature with prestige supporting cast (for credibility), and finally staging everything with enough acrobatics and muscular car chases to appease the right demographic (all this wrapped in a shiny cinematography and slick costume design). The result of this concoction is a soulless feature, where everything looks slick, but lacks verisimilitude, where talented actors try to bring dimension to characters that are lifeless and have very little in terms of motivation or even an arc. Even for a director who has made a career for himself of populating his films with quick jump cuts, objectification of women, and gratuitous explosions, all hidden behind this dated tv commercial aesthetic, "The Island" is one of his most forgettable endeavors, and that itself is one of its biggest flaws. Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, then trying to establish their careers within the industry, even if at different times in their careers, are completely wasted in this film, the same going for the supporting cast, which features Djimon Hounsou playing yet another villain with a soul, Sean Bean still attempting to maintain the momentum from "Lord of the Rings", and Steve Buscemi, whose ability to pepper his performances with just enough distinctiveness, is completely passed over. The production team, while greatly talented, services a very distasteful aesthetic, resulting in the work of Mauro Fiore (cinematography), Nigel Phelps (production design), and Steve Jablonsky (score), being less than stellar. It's a forgettable endeavor for everyone involved.
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