THE ISLAND (2005)

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What do you get when you throw Lois Loewry's The Giver, Logans Run, Aeon Flux, an Fahrenheit 451 into one action packed and attention holding rollercoaster ride? Why Michael Bay's The Island of course. Yes the same Michael Bay who gave us every guilty pleasure, high budget, action flick of the 1990's brings us a surprising change in setting and style with this meaningful sci fi thriller. If you've seen Bay's films which include The Rock, Bad Boys, Bad Boys 2, Pearl Harbour, Armageddon, and Transformers you are aware that lengthy car wrecks and explosive action dominate the story and you leave the theatre with an adreneline rush and not much a theme or message. The Island combines Michael Bay's talents and everything he's been lacking to create his first true epic.

The story follows a human sub colony being run by an evil, god complexed doctor who has brainwashed these people into believing they survived an apocalypse and that every week or so every one of them is put into a random draw to see who will go to "the island"the last paradise left on earth. The truth however is that the island doesn't exist and the survivors are actually insurance policies or clones purchased by whoever is rich enough to purchase one. Why? Well say if you need a kidney transplant the clone is taken to the island, a chair in which they are given a lethal injection then cut apart by the doctors who deliver the organ safely. The main characters Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) and lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) escape and try to locate their original copies to inform them that the clones have conciousnes and are not in a persistant vegetative state like they've been told.

As you can see the plot is little bits from various source points so the idea is common and very unoriginal, but The island manages to deliver it in a fresh and entertaining way. The Island is a deeper and more subversive look into Michael Bay's creativity with fewer plot holes and less overkill in the action sequences. I enjoy a plot that reveals the possible future of government or medical science and in a way The island gives us a little bit of both.

The casting is dead on, Ewan McGregor plays a likeable, corageous, and paranoid man, while Scarlett johansson plays an appreciative, happy, and trusting young women. Even the cameo appearances particularily Michael Clarke Duncan who portrays Starkweather a man being killed by ruthless scientists as he screams " I WANT TO LIVE!!!"at the top of his lungs, you find yourself frightened of how souless people can be. Overall the acting is great with the exception of the occasional slip of the accent from Ewan McGregor.

The directing is a good mix of Michael Bay's visual style abnd great action scenes but he combines the entertainment with depth so that it only adds to and doesn't overshadow the plot. Bay paces the movie well with an even amount of typical Michael Bay highway explosions and heartfelt, character driven, emotional moments as well, kudos to Steve Jablonsky whose scores add to these meaningful scenes he is fast becoming one of my favourite composers.

My only beef lies with the lack of originality here, this hasd been done many times before but in the end The Island isn't as boring as Aeon Flux, more realistic than Logans Run, and flat out better than any other recent sci fi film as most have been garbage Ultraviolet being the latest to fit in the bad sci fi section of film. Michael Bay's surprisingly story driven action/adventure is a must see.

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